Vergeltung Lied
by Saiyan5Nine-tails
Summary: He warned them. He told them he would come for them in their happiest moments, no matter the future, and slaughter them all. Now, the Quincy Kaiser has fulfilled his promise, and battle will spill across time to fulfill the Gesang in the time it was meant to be...Or to change the world into what it should have been. So Shall the Vengeance Hymn Be Sung. A continuation fic.
1. Vergeltung Lied

**_Vergeltung Lied_**

 _I will survey your futures from this point on, and choose the moment at which you feel the greatest happiness. That is the moment when I will take your lives. For the rest of your lives, whenever you feel happiness, you will remember my words. And each time you will tremble in fear of your promised death. Forever._

\- _Kaiser Gesang - Vergeltung Lied_

 _I do not know why all this happened_ , Arisawa Tatsuki thought.

Arisawa Tatsuki, forty-two years old, ran through the ruins of a town ravaged by a battle. It was Karakura Town, her home. Two years ago, it was alive, peaceful, and happy. Now, it was ruins and rubble.

Everyone who once lived here had fled to elsewhere. Everyone else…She had to stop as the same pain washed over her.

Karin and Yuzu. Keigo and Mizuiro. Ishida and Kurosaki. Sado. Orihime and her son, Kazui…

Ichigo. All of them were now dead two years. Almost everyone she ever knew and cared about, slaughtered and washed away, as if they were grains of sand. It pained her to admit this to herself, as she did every time, but the only relief she could take was that Ikumi, her aunt on her mother's side, and Kaoru had left Karakura Town and Japan for Canada.

She could not expect help from Ichigo's Shinigami friends, the Gotei 13, either. All of them died within the same span of time, including Abarai Renji and Rukia, and their daughter, Ichika. Even the Shinigami with Hollow Masks, and the other Humans who had powers like Orihime and Sado, also died.

Nine days. Nine days was all it took for happiness to turn to despair. After that, everything had changed.

The world shook. Darkness poured from the Earth and Karakura Town was shattered. It was the Jureichi, the epicenter of it all. Once the darkness had dissipated and the world stopped shaking, that is when it began.

Everyone in the Human World began to see spirits. What was once something very few could do was now something done by all. It was only after all this that she had learned what happened from Urahara and Uryu, the only ones who survived the battle.

Yhwach had returned. He had remade the world into one without "fear of death", making it into one where Life and Death were now one.

Making it into a world where the Quincy race was returning to the world.

Tatsuki gripped the hilt of the sword that was at her side, and looked down at her black Shihakusho. It was a world where, as far as Tatsuki knew, she and Urahara were now the last Shinigami.

When the world had changed, Urahara had told her, Keigo and Mizuiro that they had to 'set things right'. He helped Tatsuki become a Shinigami – the only one out of the trio who had the potential. Uryu trained Keigo and Mizuiro in awakening their Quincy potential. The original plan was for them to bide their time, grow strong enough so that they might be able to kill Yhwach, and take revenge for the deaths of their loved ones.

Urahara never said anything about returning the world to what it once was.

But Yhwach was swift. How could one out-wit a man who could see all possible futures?

A new generation of Stern Ritter were sent after them. Tessai, Keigo and Mizuiro died fighting the Stern Ritter to give Tatsuki, Uryu and Urahara a chance to escape.

With just her and Uryu, there was no chance. Not with the way Yhwach was now.

 _But if Urahara actually succeeds in what he is planning now…_

She started off on a run again, keeping her spiritual power suppressed and not daring to use Shunpo, lest someone sense her power. She heard one of the Stern Ritter she fought convey this to her, just before Tatsuki killed them.

"Now His Majesty knows that only he can kill you," she had told Tatsuki. "He will come for you soon enough."

That was only last month. The woman had been the leader of the Stern Ritter.

She ran to the ruins of the Karakura High School. Urahara had set up the path to his new base underneath the building after the one underneath his Shop was destroyed. Many memories came back to her from her High School years – the Hollow that attacked her; seeing Ichigo as a Shinigami for the first time; the Arrancar killing her karate team-mates; seeing Ichigo fight the Arrancar; confronting Ichigo over Inoue's disappearance; Aizen chasing her and her friends – and Kanonji – through the streets of Karakura Town.

…Kyoraku giving them those Soul Tickets which they never needed to use.

 _Well,_ Tatsuki thought ruefully, _now there is a use for them._

She pulled out the Soul Ticket from her Shihakusho. She did not know if it was some joke on Urahara's part, but he had set up the Gateway to Soul Society where the Women's Locker Room was.

 _Right,_ she thought absent-mindedly, _I never got the chance to kill him for sticking Orihime in that shameful dress._ She remembered how aghast she was when she saw Inoue come back to Karakura Town after the Quincy War in that mid-rift revealing, cleavage-revealing out-fit. She would have been centimetres away from kicking Urahara's ass back to the Soul Society…

If she didn't see the look on Ichigo's face after he returned. It should not have surprised her; she realized now, that Ichigo had given up on his life as a Shinigami at that point.

She shook her head slowly. Reminiscing on that would not change anything. Only what she was doing now might, if only for her younger self, and not her present self. She pushed the Soul Ticket into the opening, and opened the Gateway, a barrier of light emitting from the Gate.

She stepped through.

She came out of the other end in an obscure, isolated part of the Soul Society. According to Urahara, this area of the Soul Society was beyond the borders of the Rukongai, and it was only within this realm outside the control of even the Gotei 13 that a certain clan of people could live in peace.

A bark caught her attention, as a brown furred wolf looked at her from the side of the Gate.

"…Hello, Komamura-San", Tatsuki said sadly.

She had heard the sad story of Sajin Komamura from one of his brothers – his litter mate, as the brother called himself. He was once of the Captains of the Gotei 13, who had joined the Shinigami against the wishes of the Clan and their Elder. He, like the rest of his Clan, were Wolfmen – real werewolves – who had been cursed to the form of Humanoid wolves, to dwell in the Beast Realm. But their ancestors never accepted their fate, and returned to the Soul Society in their current guise.

Komamura, seeking revenge against the Vandenreich and Yhwach for the death of Yamamoto Genryuusai, confronted the Elder to learn the secret technique of the Clan: Humanization, to break the chains of their curse and return to the Clan's original form with incredible power – Humans with the strength of the Wolf, and immortal, indestructible bodies.

When Tatsuki asked about that, she was given this answer by Urahara: just as Humans and Hollow were opposites of one another, so too are Animals and Humans opposite to one another. Humans are souls that evolved from Animals; Hollows are Human souls that revert to animalistic instinct.

The Komamura Clan was one of many around the world that, in a far different age, had unearthed the secret to mix the soul of an Animal with the soul of a Human, giving them incredible power, the traits of the Animal soul the clan mixed with, and immortal bodies that could only die of old age.

Urahara would not divulge who cursed the Clans to their current form.

But Humanification came at a price: you must give up your heart to break the chains of their sins and attain that power, but the consequence is that, once the power runs out, you lose your Human form and become a Beast forever. The Elder had once done this, and he tricked Sajin into doing it without telling him the price, for the sake of the "sins" within Komamura's heart – the sin of wrath and desire for vengeance – would nourish his life.

 _If you have come back here from the Living World,_ Sajin spoke through his thoughts, _then it means you heard from Urahara._

"Yes," Tatsuki told him. "It seems he is now ready."

 _Will you…Find a way to save my Clan, when you go back?_

Tatsuki looked at Komamura sadly. "I hope so, Komamura."

With Komamura accompanying her, Tatsuki walked over to the place where Urahara had set up his base.

When Tatsuki saw the man with black hair wearing his white Quincy uniform, even if it was only from the back, her heart felt a rare moment of happiness. "Uryu!"

Uryu turned around and gave her a sad smile, reaching out as the two old friends embraced one another. They were the only friends they each had left in the world, and they cherished every moment they were together.

"I'm glad that you were able to make it here safely," Uryu told her, brushing a strand of hair out of Tatsuki's eyes. "I was worried that you might have been found."

"I'm not that easy to catch," Tatsuki said, mildly irritated at Uryu's worry, but thankful for it all the same. There was only one power in the world that they both knew could ever harm them. "Besides…He wasn't there. I couldn't sense him."

"I know. I can't sense him anywhere in the Soul Society, either," Uryu spoke worriedly, as he adjusted his glasses. "I can only conclude he is back in the Wahrwelt."

Tatsuki shivered. If Yhwach was in the Wahrwelt, the former Soul King Palace, then it could only be bad news.

"Ah, Arisawa!" A familiar voice spoke happily. "You're finally here."

Tatsuki and Uryu turned to look at Urahara, who had grown out a trimmed, yellow beard over the past two years. He still bore the scars from his fight with Askin Naak le Varr. He told Orihime that he didn't want these scars healed; they were a remembrance of an opponent he respected.

"Now, we can finally get started." Urahara beckoned them towards a Gate he had built, one with a complex series of Kido spells weaved into it unlike anything ever seen in the world until that point. Tatsuki touched the Gate's pillar.

 _So this is the Choujikanmon,_ Tatsuki thought to herself. _The Time-Transcending Gate._

"I have Tessai to thank for this Gate," Urahara said sadly, remembering his oldest friend. "I would never have been able to make it if it weren't for him showing me Jikanteishi and Kukanten'i – Kido that freeze time and teleport space from one area to another."

"Those are Kido that were forbidden," Tatsuki recapped, "because one of them could allow a person to penetrate the Soul King Palace without the King's Key, yes?"

Urahara smiled wryly. "…Yes, Only for someone who has been there, knows how to use it, and can gauge the distance. I couldn't do this in the past because, even after a century, I hadn't perfected the spell or the calculations for it in this particular venture. Jikanteishi will be used to help you survive the process of time transference – freezing you temporally as the time-stream rushes over you. That one is illegal because, depending on how powerful you are, you could freeze someone in time for a thousand years – perhaps more – regardless of how strong the individual is or what is happening to them."

Uryu grimaced. "Remind me again how this Gate will work?" Uryu remembered, but he just needed to be told again because of how unpleasant it sounded, and how wrong it could go if just one thing went awry.

"It is a one-way Gate into a section of the Dangai. There is no way in or out except through the way you came. All you have to do is wait for Koutotsu to show-up, and…" Urahara raised a hand towards Tatsuki, wanting her to finish for him for dramatic effect.

Komamura sniffed the air. He seemed to notice something amiss.

Tatsuki diverted her gaze from Urahara, only able to cringe at the thought of it. "Let Koutotsu blast us back out." She muttered.

"Exactly!" Tatsuki imagined lottery jackpots playing out in Urahara's head with that dramatic announcement. "And once Koutotsu blasts you back out, it should send you flying backwards in time about twenty-five years, and across space to the Wahrwelt – the night before the day Ichigo killed Yhwach the first time."

Komamura's eyes lit up in alarm once he realized what was amiss, and he ran off while Tatsuki and Uryu were talking with Urahara.

"And by 'should'," Uryu asked hesitantly, "there is a chance of something going wrong?"

"The last time I managed a trick like this, I sent you and Ichigo and company back in time only seven days."

"SO YOU DID THAT INTENTIONALLY!?" Uryu yelled in a panic. "WAIT, HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?! SHOULDN'T THERE HAVE BEEN A TIME PARADOX OR SOMETHING?!"

"Like what we are about to cause now?" Urahara spoke softly. Tatsuki knew that tone. It was when Urahara was about to divulge something significant. "The tricky thing about time travel is this: Yes, I did cause a paradox back then."

Tatsuki and Uryu's eyes widened, in shock. Then how did no one notice…?

"Uryu, when you, Kurosaki-san and the others were sent back in time seven days after being chased by Koutotsu, that coincided with when Ichigo's training originally ended in the Living World. In effect, you were in two places at once – one set of you in Soul Society, and the other set in the Living World. However, since both sets were in two separate worlds at the time, the paradox only played out in Soul Society, at least visibly.

"Yhwach describes "The Almighty" as seeing all the grains of sand of possible futures, and being able to "alter the future" by manipulating those possibilities," Urahara continued. "When Uryu and his friends went back in time the first time, they leapt backwards in the grains of sand that had already taken place in Soul Society, and diverted things from there. But in that case, a different time-line wasn't created; rather, a subtle pre-destination paradox played out."

"…How do you know all this?" Tatsuki asked, not sure what to think of what Urahara was saying.

"Because when Ichigo's Hollow first awakened in the Soul Society, I noticed that the thread I had originally tied between Isshin and the Hollow inside Ichigo had snapped. To be more specific, the day before I sent Ichigo to Soul Society, I noticed that the string binding Isshin's soul to Ichigo's Hollow had "snapped" on his end. My Gate and Koutotsu sent Ichigo back seven days, the time when Ichigo finished training; Isshin's string snapped six days after I finished training Ichigo.

"In other words, the string on Ichigo's end could be called a "temporal phantom" – while pre-destination caused it to snap already on Isshin's end, time had not yet progressed for Ichigo to a point where it happened on his end yet. So even before I sent Ichigo to Soul Society, I knew that he had succeeded."

"Oooookay," Tatsuki muttered, not sure if all of that made sense.

"But what we are doing right now is far different – we are going to change the past completely, create a new timeline. Or, to use Yhwach's terminology, leap backwards onto a specific grain of sand, and change the path the world takes on its grains of sand. Change the path to one where this world will not come about."

"But if we do that," Uryu interjected, "then we will never be able to come back to this time, will we?"

Urahara looked at Uryu ominously. "Yes. The path to this future will be closed forever, assuming you make the right decisions."

A panicked barking caught their attention. They turned to see Sajin running as fast as his four legs could take him, fear and despair in his eyes.

 _The Elder is missing!_ He broadcasted his thoughts. _The scent of Yhwach was in his cave!_

Before Urahara, Uryu and Tatsuki could react, an explosion of darkness ripped through the area, uprooting stone and trees.

"The Elder…" Tatsuki gritted his teeth. "I knew that he hated the Shinigami, but this…!"

"We have no time to wonder why," Uryu shouted back. "We have to go through the Gate now!"

"But Koutotsu is not there yet!" Tatsuki yelled back. "If we go in there now, we'll be waiting at least a few days for it to come, and who knows what will happen within the next few minutes."

Times runs two thousand times faster in the Dangai. When one says the Koutotsu sweeps through the Dangai every seven days, Koutotsu only sweep the Dangai **every 38 years** within the time frame of the Dangai itself.

However, Koutotsu will bypass this standard sweep and attack anything foreign not trapped within Koryu and without a Hell Butterfly, if the entity in question is in the Dangai for a certain amount of time. It is for this reason Isshin decided to take advantage of the Koutotsu's absence when Aizen destroyed it – if he had tried to train Ichigo in the Dangai while Koutotsu was active, the Koutotsu would have come by within the span of seven days in the Dangai itself to kill them both, rather than its usual sweep of seven days in the Soul Society or Living World.

"Both of you go!" Urahara shouted, and he activated the _Choujikanmon_. "I'll hold off Yhwach for as long as possible!"

Tatsuki and Uryu looked at Urahara in fear. Was he intending to lay down his life for them? He was not going to come with them. "But…Urahara!"

"Just go." Urahara said, resigned to his fate. "I was bound to face my judgement for what I put Ichigo and Rukia through sooner or later…And what they will have to follow through with now."

Tatsuki and Uryu looked at Urahara sadly. They knew what Urahara meant: Ichigo and Rukia, they were the key to it all. What couldn't be done after Ichigo gave up on his life as a Shinigami, they had to ensure they would be able to do now.

"Bankai: Kannon Biraki Benihime Aratame".

Years ago, a puppet woman in a revealing robe appeared behind Urahara whenever he used Bankai, and she was the one who was the conduit for Urahara's Bankai ability.

Now, Urahara had evolved his Zanpakuto beyond the Bankai. Now, his blade was agglutinated to his arm, covered in the same porcelain ceramic that made up the woman.

"Tatsuki, let's go!" Uryu went in first, with Tatsuki pausing for just a moment longer. In an instant, Urahara's body seemed to come apart, only to stitch itself back together again flawlessly, augmented to its highest level of function, as a prelude for what was to come.

"…Good Bye, Urahara-san". Tatsuki gave one last look to the man who had taught her to be a Shinigami in these past two years – took her beyond the limits of the normal Shinigami – and went through the Gate.

Urahara smiled to himself. "Now all I need to do is give them more time."

"I have already seen what you intend to do."

The voice came from in front of him, beyond a curtain of darkness. Urahara raised his blade in preparation as the figure walked through the darkness. "I will not stop them, but I will take advantage of your work myself."

Wordlessly, Urahara raised his blade, and "became one" with his Zanpakuto, The man wreathed in darkness simply smiling at Urahara's last attempt at defying him. Reiryoku billowed out from Urahara's body as he became one with Benihime.

Urahara Kisuke's hair turned red; his eyes scarlet, his upper body covered in a porcelain ceramic armor the color of blood, as his lower Shihakusho became died with blood.

It was to be a battle between one who had become one with their Zanpakuto, and one who bore mark of the true Quincy. The man did not try to break his Bankai.

Urahara knew he would die, but would fight regardless.

"Finally," the figure drew a blade from its back as the darkness peeled away from his form. "I will kill you, and I will fulfill the Kaiser Gesang in the time it should have been fulfilled….

The man who emerged from the darkness physically looked virtually identical to the man who was his father. Orange-blond hair, albeit softer looking; tall and well-built. In his hand, a white blade with a white swastika guard, the same as his father's Bankai.

But there is where the relation ended. The smile was vicious, as if anticipating the death it was going to inflict upon Urahara – a death, Urahara knew, he already saw. Urahara looked upon the man's eyes. Four dark irises crowded the man's eye, in a formation that Urahara recognized all too well from a long time ago – he saw them once when he saw the Soul King.

He looked at the man who had the body of Kazui Kurosaki.

But the soul of the man, the one who inhabited the body, the only one who had remained in the body, was Yhwach.

"…Urahara Kisuke."


	2. Final Crimson Prince - Preview

Final Crimson Prince

"If I may ask, Yhwach," Urahara spoke, "why do you want to go back in time? You've won in this time." He needed to make every second count, even if Yhwach could see how many of those seconds it would take for the Choujikanmon to activate. Every single one was nearly an hour in the Dangai. Uryu could use the Kaikyo Kotei could stabilize the Dangai until Koutotsu arrived.

Once that happened…

"Why throw it all away? You know you will never be able to come back once the path is closed, even with "The Almighty"."

Yhwach simply smiled. "The path may be closed, but the world will still remain. I seek to ensure this occurs again on the new path you will create. And do not think…I don't know I have to go at the same time as them."

Yhwach's power flared, reiatsu and the power of the Soul King tearing apart the land around them. "Komamura, run!"

Komamura heard Urahara's warning, and pain filled his heart as he ran, knowing that fighting would only kill him.

A helix of blood-red energy formed in Urahara's hand, and he gripped it as he charged Yhwach, and the two clashed blades, the ground shattering with the collision of reiatsu as Urahara pushed Yhwach kilometres away with raw physical strength.

They fought at speeds beyond the ken of Humans; Speeds beyond the ken of Shinigami. The Eyes of the Quincy; the Final Evolution of Zanpakuto; powers for which no name existed in the modern day, but were once born by most ancient ancestors of the Shinigami and the Quincy. Yeshua, the father of Yhwach, was the first to awaken the power and the Eyes of the Quincy; the Shiba were the last to know the final secret of the Zanpakuto, hidden even from Squad Zero as a 'technique' not an evolution.

Urahara's form was beyond even the knowledge of Ichibei Hyosube, but Urahara knew its name:

The Crimson Monarch.

* * *

I want to see how this beginning is received before I post the rest of the chapter. Please leave a review if you like the first chapter and this preview. Also, I need to find out how "Crimson Monarch" translates closest to Benihime in Japanese. So this preview will be up before anything else.


	3. Final Crimson Prince - Full

**Final Crimson Prince**

"If I may ask, Yhwach," Urahara spoke, "why do you want to go back in time? You've won in this time." He needed to make every second count, even if Yhwach could see how many of those seconds it would take for the _Choujikanmon_ to activate. Every single one was nearly an hour in the Dangai. Uryu could use the Kaikyo Kotei could stabilize the Dangai until Koutotsu arrived.

Once that happened…

"Why throw it all away? You know you will never be able to come back once the path is closed, even with "The Almighty"."

Yhwach simply smiled. "The path may be closed, but the world will still remain. I seek to ensure this occurs again on the new path you will create. And do not think…I don't know I have to go at the same time as them."

Yhwach's power flared, reiatsu and the power of the Soul King tearing apart the land around them. "Komamura, run!"

Komamura heard Urahara's warning, and pain filled his heart as he ran, knowing that fighting would only kill him.

A helix of blood-red energy formed in Urahara's hand, and he gripped it as he charged Yhwach, and the two clashed blades, the ground shattering with the collision of reiatsu as Urahara pushed Yhwach kilometres away with raw physical strength.

They fought at speeds beyond the ken of Humans; Speeds beyond the ken of Shinigami. The Eyes of the Quincy; the Final Evolution of Zanpakuto; powers for which no name existed in the modern day, but were once born by most ancient ancestors of the Shinigami and the Quincy. Yeshua, the father of Yhwach, was the first to awaken the power and the Eyes of the Quincy; the Shiba were the last to know the final secret of the Zanpakuto, hidden even from Squad Zero as a 'technique' not an evolution.

Urahara's form was beyond even the knowledge of Ichibei Hyosube, but Urahara knew its name:

 _Beniou_ \- The Crimson Monarch.

The battle reached its conclusion.

Urahara Kisuke grabbed the helix blade with both hands, and force Yhwach backwards towards a mountain. Urahara reached out. The structure of the mountain opened up before his hand, the Quincy Emperor flying into the gap. He gripped his hand closed, and the mountain closed with it, sealing Yhwach into its heart.

He reached the mountain, and touched it. The entire mountain had its mass restructured into reiryoku – Urahara's reiryoku. He detonated it, a red pillar of energy piercing the sky, and expanding for kilometres around. Urahara readied his blade. He knew this would not be enough to kill Yhwach, at least what he was now.

Moving through the pillar of energy as if it were water, Yhwach clashed with Urahara again, as energy gave way to fire of the scorched atmosphere, a black wave of the power of the Soul King following him. Although seemingly unfazed, Urahara saw the burns on Yhwach's body. He had hurt him.

Urahara smirked. He knew "the Almighty's" true weakness – unless Yhwach acted directly, he could not "alter the future" in a way so as to directly damage a living being. He could break a Bankai, shatter any inanimate object or manifestation of power through "The Almighty". Its power was dependent on Yhwach's own. If Yhwach himself could not accomplish it in the present, he could not use "The Almighty" to alter the future as he saw fit.

Right now, Urahara was physically stronger than Yhwach.

Yhwach raised his hand, and bonds of reishi tore apart from the surrounding area, and formed into a torrent of reishi extending to behind Yhwach's arm. He threw his hand down, and a rain of arrows threw Urahara into the bottom of the crater, and continued raining down upon him, a miles-high explosion rising from the crater. Yhwach pointed his sword at the ground. The power of the Soul King slammed down into Urahara, who was struggling to get out of the crater.

Suddenly, a crimson beam of energy carved through the darkness, and headed straight for Yhwach. Yhwach smirked, and raised his blade up. Reiryoku began to build along the edge of the blade.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

When Yhwach had come into contact with Kazui Kurosaki fifteen years ago, the boy was just an innocent toddler who knew no better what he was. That, and his being the son of Ichigo Kurosaki, made him the perfect host for his power and consciousness. The show he put on in Soul Society was to lure the Soul Society into complete false re-assurance. When he made Kazui his host, he took all the boy's power and abilities.

Yhwach could 'consume' an entity and make their power his own, as he did with the Right Arm and Body of the Soul King. He could also do it the other way around: infuse his essence into one with Quincy blood, and make them a new host. He had no need for this power until that time.

The Getsuga clashed with the crimson wave of energy, the two forces cancelling each other out in a heavens-shaking explosion. Up from his right, Yhwach saw Urahara Kisuke fly out of the crater. "Do you think such a distraction could fool me?" Yhwach boasted, and charged to meet Urahara. He had to make this quick.

No matter what else, he had to make sure to not have his body touched by Urahara's hands. He knew even a brush of the finger would be fatal. He saw what would happen.

He sent the power of the Soul King before him, and Urahara was left vulnerable as he had to deflect the attack. Yhwach foresaw his chance.

He cared not for the name of Kazui Kurosaki's Zanpakuto, or the name of the Bankai. For when he took Kazui's soul as his own, it had been subsumed into his own power. The power of the Shinigami gave him a new power.

The blade turned to black, the swastika guard changing into a six-pointed symbol within a circular guard. His white Quincy uniform transformed to a black, sleeved robe, the shoulders and bottom of the robe lined with black metal ornamentation.

An obsidian, five-pointed star sat in the center of the robe, and a metal crown of thorns encircled his head. The orange-blond hair of Kazui's body turned black.

"IT'S OVER, URAHARA KISUKE!"

He focused the reishi into a platform beneath his feet, and propelled himself off at speeds so fast that light itself was left behind. He rammed the blade through Urahara's body, smashing him into the walls of the crater, fracturing the crater along its entire side, and the landscape collapsed into the hole.

As the dust cleared, Yhwach saw blood streaming from Urahara's mouth, and exploding from his body, his body driven deep into the ground.

Black ice formed over Urahara's body. Yhwach was not surprised. It was why the Vandenreich he had made with his power was always covered in ice – it was a reflection of his inner world.

"You should have let yourself die, Urahara Kisuke," Yhwach spoke. "There was no need for you to die such an ugly death."

"An…Ugly death…" Urahara spoke through a blood filled mouth, a stream of blood pouring out as he spoke. Yhwach followed the blood as it gushed onto the ground.

It dissolved into energy when it touched the ground.

Yhwach's eye's widened. The future had just shifted.

Urahara's body glowed a brilliant crimson, and exploded in Yhwach's face, blasting him out of the hole in the wall of the crater.

"A…clone of energy?!" Yhwach was shocked. How could have Urahara hidden this from him! There was only one entity in the entire universe that he could not see with "The Almighty" – Mimihagi, The Right Arm of the Soul King. It governed Stillness, so of all the Aspects of the Soul King, it remained the most true to its essence – his father, Yeshua. Yeshua was the one thing Yhwach could not see with "The Almighty".

 _Wait._ A flicker of memory passed through his mind, of the moments before his second death. _There was one other…_

 _Snikt_

The wet sound of steel running through flesh reached Yhwach's ears, and the future he saw went dark. He looked down. _No…_

It was Still Silver, the by-product of Yhwach performing Auswahlen on Quincy who were not Aspects of the Soul King. The Still Silver collected in the Quincy's heart, where the Quincy flow all the reishi and reiryoku they collected through absorption. Quincy used a special method of manipulating reishi to forge Star Silver, the metal used for the Quincy relics, the Quincy Cross, the Medallion. It was even used for the Vollstandig Crosses, which drew on the Schrift Yhwach had bestowed them to unleash greater power in the Quincy – his greatest creations were Quilge Opie, Lille Barro, As Nodt, and Gerard Valkyire, the Heart of the Soul King.

Be it a few days, a few months, or even years, the Still Silver collects in the heart until it kills them. This is how those whom Yhwach gave his soul to in his youth died so that he could reclaim pieces of his soul – the piece of his soul drew in and built up the Still Silver.

Yhwach realized now: this Still Silver, the bane of even his own essence, was a metal not seen by his eyes, nor are the one who holds it in their hand. Back then, he had assumed Uryu's power awakening, "The Antithesis", was why he could not see it.

But here it was, once again piercing through his body, only on a shaft of red energy, rather than one of Quincy blue. He turned around as the power of the Soul King fell to the ground around him. Urahara Kisuke was charging towards him, a red bow changing once again into a red helix blade. Yhwach spied a hole in Urahara's chest weaving itself closed.

 _He hid it,_ Yhwach realized. _He hid it in his soul, the same technique he used to hide the Hogyoku inside Kuchiki Rukia. A technique he derived from his own Bankai._

Yhwach gritted his teeth. "What a bold strategy…BUT IT WON'T BE ENOUGH!" Already, he felt his power coming back to him, and moved to counter Urahara. He would not let his defeat happen again. He would not be taken off-guard. He would kill Urahara before he could implement his plan. And once he could awaken "The Almighty" again, it would be all over. Even if it killed this body, he would follow the futures of Arisawa Tatsuki and Ishida Uryu, which now went back into the past, and he would strike them, and the Gotei 13 itself, down there.

The power of the Shinigami still remained. He charged towards Urahara, aiming to plunge his blade through Urahara's heart. He reduced the cold of his body to its furthest possible temperature - -273.15 Celsius.

Urahara dissipated the red helix blade. Yhwach's eyes widened, in confusion. As his blade touched Urahara's body, they shone in horror. _He wanted this._ But it was too late. His own inertia carried him forward.

His blade ran through Urahara Kisuke, blood freezing into ice, and breaking down into white mist as the bonds between atoms broke down at an impossible temperature, the ability of his blade making entropy reach zero and freeze at that point.

Urahara reached out his left arm, and gripped Yhwach's shoulder.

Urahara won the battle, and the war. In all paths of the world. Yhwach knew this now, as his blade read Urahara's soul – an inheritance from Kurosaki Ichigo, who could read the hearts of others, but refused to read Yhwach's own.

 _He wanted all of this…_ Yhwach's horror became terror as he felt his own body pull itself apart, Urahara's power coursing through his body and reaching his eyes. His eyes became "re-structured", and Yhwach lost his sight.

A God became blind. When God is blind, that is when God dies.

He felt the rest of his senses go, _Beniou_ crippling him completely.

 _He never fought to restore the world to what it once was, because…This is the world he wanted._

Urahara, even as his own body froze from the inside out, continuously restructured his body within his crimson ceramic armor to keep him going. He plunged his right arm forward, and tore into Yhwach's chest.

 _The only thing that was wrong with it, in his eyes, was me. He needed to remove me._

Reduced to the state he feared the most of all things – the black void without sense that he was born into as an infant, where he lived yet could not experience life – to think and imagine was all that was left to Yhwach.

Just as he did as an infant, where all he had to know of the outside world was the memories that came with pieces of his soul that came back to him. He had that, and his spatial perception of himself, of the heat and the cold, and of pain.

He was helpless to prevent his heart from being ripped out. He couldn't even scream in pain, even as he knew what was happening.

 _He wants a world where Life and Death are one. He wants a world where a new generation of Shinigami and Quincy may find a path different from their predecessors._

 _A world where I cannot belong._

Wordlessly, as Urahara's stamina gave out from the cold consuming his body, Urahara crushed Yhwach's heart in his hand. It was the only way he could be sure he could kill Yhwach, even having blinded him.

Yhwach smiled.

 _Ah, so that is how it is, Urahara Kisuke. To create the best possible future, you will plunge the past into its most dire outcome. You want the evil of the Shinigami's past exposed._

Yhwach's blade broke. With it, so did Urahara's body.

Urahara Kisuke and Yhwach fell to earth side by side, the last of an old war now concluded, dying in mutual destruction.

As he fell, Yhwach accepted his fate.

 _I did not trust the Shinigami to restore the world to what it should be. Kurosaki Ichigo giving up proved that for me. But…Perhaps the two you sent into the past…Will help make a world better than the one we live in now…._

Yhwach embraced his final oblivion, letting his immortal Soul move on to its next life.

 _This is as far as I can go…_

Urahara thought, as he fell to earth, the cold encroaching upon the rest of his body as his power gave way. _Arisawa, Ishida…Set Kurosaki and Kuchiki back on the path they were supposed to go. Make this a world where Life and Death are one…Where Ishida Souken can finally have his dream fulfilled._

Urahara felt the frozen parts of his body dissolve away. He closed his eyes.

 _Forgive me…Kurosaki…Forgive me…_

With his last breath, Urahara uttered his last word.

"…Rukia…"

The cold fully covered him, and his body dissolved into the wind. The corpse of Kazui Kurosaki crashed into the ground, and became covered and crushed by the collapsing crater.


	4. And What is Left Behind

What They Take With Them, and What is Left Behind

A phantom pain shot through Tatsuki's soul, and he looked out through the Gate. "…Urahara's gone."

Uryu heard these words, and closed his eyes in sadness. Single tears streamed from his eyes. They were tears of sorrow and tears of happiness. "Yhwach is finally gone, too."

They turned to look at one another. Uryu stood there holding the Koryu at bay, and they both turned to look back at the Gate.

"We can't go back now," Uryu told her. "We made a promise to Urahara."

"I know, but…" Tatsuki lamented her situation. "We have nothing left in this world, and the world we are going back to…We do not belong there."

"Maybe…But, Tatsuki," Uryu reminded her, "perhaps it is a world where our child can live in peace."

A flash of heat passed over Tatsuki's face, as she blushed and placed a hand over her stomach. The new life in her was almost two months old. It was barely noticeable, but still there. "But it will be very strange…For us and our younger selves."

A blush crept onto Uryu's face. "I never thought about that. We'll have to reveal who we are eventually." Uryu noticed something up ahead. "Here it comes."

Tatsuki looked up, and the light of Koutotsu appeared in the distance, becoming brighter and brighter, until its form was distinct and visible.

Tatsuki ran forward, and placed her hands on Uryu's shoulders. "…No matter what happens, Uryu."

Uryu disconnected the Kaikyo Kotei, and reached a hand to touch Tatsuki's hand. "…No matter what happens."

Koutotsu, a Being of Reason, bore down upon them, and fired them through time and space, as light escape the Choujikanmon.

* * *

Beyond the outskirts of the Rukongai, in a place near where Urahara Kisuke and Yhwach met their mutual ends in battle, two Shinigami, in hiding for the past two years, emerged from the depths of a forest. Both were kind-faced young Shinigami. One of them had five white hair clips adorning his black hair, three on one side of his head, and two on the other, a symbol of his former Clan.

The other, whose face was framed by two bangs, bore an armband on his left arm, displaying the symbol of his former Squad: a Snowdrop, and the number thirteen.

"I…I cannot believe it," Yamada Hanataro, former Vice-Captain of the 13th Division spoke. "I could only tell when both reiatsu fell, but…that was Yhwach and Urahara-San!"

"Are they both dead?" Yuki Ryuunosuke, the former Third Seat of the 13th Division, asked his superior.

Hanataro gulped. Even after twenty five years, he was still the same nervous Shinigami that Ichigo once met in the Soul Society, although the last two years had tempered him with the responsibility he had faced for the past two years – keeping those Shinigami he was able to evacuate from the Seireitei hidden and alive.

He remembered that dreadful day as if it was yesterday. An explosion of darkness consumed the 1st Division Barracks, and Captain Kuchiki ordering him to take as many Shinigami as they could and run from the Seireitei, as if she knew that no one who fought the resurgent Yhwach would survive.

 _It was supposed to be a happy day,_ Hanataro thought often, whenever he remembered that day.

So he took them, and they ran. He only turned back once – to see a towering mass of darkness consume Sokyoku Hill and the rebuilt execution scaffold. A "symbol of peace", it had been called by the Central 46 who had commissioned its building.

They ran through the Rukongai districts until they reached the unexplored areas of the Soul Society. He did not realize that, far beyond the eighty Rukongai districts, that the Soul Society had an ocean, spanning as far as the eye could see. It was Hanataro and Yuki's first time seeing an ocean. Its pristine blue waters were a stark contrast to the darkness and destruction they had left behind.

The forest they had emerged from in the present had extended all the way out to that ocean, and that is where they hid. As beautiful as it was, Hanataro told the survivors to stay away from the ocean.

Once, one night, he sensed "something" looking upon him from the ocean.

"The only way we can be sure is to go and look." Hanataro told him.

Nodding uneasily, Yuki followed Hanataro as they moved with haste to the sight of the battle. Hanataro came to a stop and froze once he reached a distant hill overlooking the sight of battle, and Yuki gasped in horror behind him.

Stretched out before them was a ruined crater, extending so deep that the debris at the bottom from the parts which collapsed from above were shadowed, and so wide that you could drop a small city within it. The forests, hills, and mountains surrounding it smoldered in ruin, trees burned, and the landscape looked as if Gods had carved through it with their weapons.

Hanataro could not sense either Urahara or Yhwach's reiatsu anywhere.

"Whatever happened here…" Hanataro muttered. "I do not think anyone could have survived!"

Yuki surveyed the surroundings, and noticed a few small figures off in the distance, stopped at the edges the crater. "Vice-Captain Yamada, look!" He pointed Hanataro's gaze towards the group.

Hanataro raised a hand over his eyes to get a better view of the group of figures. Something about them seemed…familiar? He couldn't sense any reiatsu from them, so they weren't Shinigami or Quincy.

Suddenly, a sound seemed to carry from the group. It was the sound of a pack of wolves howling towards the sky in mourning.

"Ah! They are…!"

Hanataro did not hesitate to Shunpo over to the group. "Vice-Captain Yamada, wait!" Yuki followed suit.

When Hanataro arrived, he found what he was expecting, but not quite who. Standing before him, towering above any Human Soul Reaper, was a group of wolf-like figures, wearing Rukongai clothing that was sized to fit their bulky figures. At the head of the group, was large wolf, who barked at Hanataro in recognition.

 _Yamada Hanataro!_

When Hanataro heard the wolf's thoughts, he began to weep uncontrollably, eyes growing wet and tears streaming down his face from happy recognition. He did not hesitate to leap at the wolf and grab him in a big hug. "CAPDAIN KOMAMUWAAAAA! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEEEEAAAAAD!"

Sajin Komamura let out an exasperated sigh at the Vice-Captain's conduct, annoyed at the tears getting into his fur. "My brother did not die," one of the wolf-men spoke. "He simply could not face his fellow Shinigami with pride, anymore."

Hanataro, still weeping, looked in the direction of the voice and promptly stopped. Now that he was close up, this black-furred wolfman completely towered over the small Shinigami. "Ah," he said timidly, "Hello. Are you Captain Komamura's family?"

Yuki Ryuunosuke, who had managed to catch up, promptly froze in place at the sight. _So many Captain Komamuras,_ he thought to himself, not knowing what to make of the group. At least the Gatekeepers, Giant souls who were native to the Soul Society, looked Human. All of Komamura's Clan had the bodies of Humanoid wolves.

"My name is Kirin Komamura. I am Sajin's litter mate. We gave refuge to Urahara Kisuke, Ishida Uryu and Arisawa Tatsuki."

"Urahara-san and…Ishida-san were both with you?!" Hanataro was not familiar with who Arisawa Tatsuki was. At best, he knew the name to belong to one of Kuchiki Rukia's friends, whom she mentioned when Hanataro was assigned to tend to her cell when Aizen had arranged for her imprisonment and execution. "What were they doing? What happened to Urahara-San? Where's Ishida-San?" He was hoping to hear any good news about their whereabouts.

Kirin raised his hands defensively. "Calm down, calm down, and let me explain, Shinigami. Urahara Kisuke died in battle against the Quincy known as Yhwach. Our Elder had betrayed their location to him. As for Ishida Uryu and his lover…They are now cast into the past."

"Eh?" The two revelations both hit Hanataro hard and confused him all at once. Urahara Kisuke, one of the greatest minds of Soul Society and Kurosaki Ichigo's ally, was dead. Hanataro realized: _I am now the last Shinigami able to lead everyone else._

But the other part just left him with nothing but questions. Arisawa and Ishida were lovers? What did Kirin mean by them being "cast into the past"?

"Urahara Kisuke constructed a Gate using forbidden techniques," Kirin explained. "He used the Gate to exploit the entity Koutotsu to send Arisawa and Ishida back twenty-five years into the past, to the days when the Shinigami fought Yhwach and his Quincy…The days when Komamura became a wolf."

Komamura hung his head in shame as his brother recounted what he knew about Urahara's plan. He had been blinded by the desire for vengeance against the Quincy for Yamamoto's death, and had paid the price of losing his Humanity. The same vengeance he had warned his friend Tousen about.

"Why that far back?" Hanataro asked. "Why not just two years – no, fifteen years? To when Yhwach…?"

In his last conversation with Kuchiki Rukia before she died fighting Yhwach, he had learnt that Yhwach had made his return by taking over the body and soul of Kazui Kurosaki, Ichigo's son.

"I know not his reasons," Kirin admitted, "all I know is that he said they had to go back to a time before Yhwach searched for the future where he would destroy the Shinigami. Any later, and Yhwach would "see" it in his search of the future. Only then, he said, could events play out as they should have, and not as they did."

"But what does that mean?" Yuki asked in a nervous. "The war twenty-five years ago was about keeping Yhwach from killing the Soul King and remaking the world into…into what it is now. …This world that does not need a Soul King."

Hanataro only realized the implications at that moment, and he let go of Sajin and looked around. Ryuunosuke was right. Yhwach possessed the power of the Soul King, even taking the power of the Soul King that was made to replace the original one. He had used that power to re-make the worlds into one – one where all Humans could see spirits, and where hidden paths between the three worlds linked to one another.

Hanataro had discovered one such path in the forest where he had hid the remaining Shinigami. It had led to a forest in the Living World, and he had to make a group of Humans who had stumbled across the path in an ancient temple promise to not speak of it, lest their haven be discovered. As one of the Humans he came across said: "it is like the paths to the underworld in many ancient mythologies".

And now with Yhwach dead, the power of the Soul King had died with him. And with the power of the Soul King, died the knowledge of anyone who could re-create the power. Yet the world was still intact.

"Wouldn't the only thing that Ishida and Arisawa could do in the past be to kill Yhwach before he could search the future?"

"No…" The realization was like a thunderbolt in his mind. "I think that Urahara-san…Wanted the world to become like it is now…But on his terms and not on Yhwach's terms."

Yuki's eyes widened and he looked over at Kirin, one of the few whom he entrusted knowledge of his plans to. "Is this true?"

Kirin nodded in affirmation. "The old world was one where none but the Shinigami were allowed to hold power or authority; a world where the Shinigami would prefer the Quincy extinct rather than alive; a world where my Clan has no place and cannot come out of the shadows.

"But in the new path that Urahara has created by sending those two into the past…None will be the case. And perhaps…it will be a world where my Clan's curse is broken."

"That's a very interesting story!"

Everyone present shook at the sound of that voice, and the feeling of a reiatsu they all dreaded. _Quincy…!_ Hanataro and Yuki turned towards the voice, and placed their hands on their Zanpakuto.

But rather than one of the new Quincy or Stern Ritter that Hanataro had heard about, these Quincy were dressed in the garb of the Vandenreich. A brash-looking, one-armed Quincy with a red Mohawk and a scar over his heart looked down at them, his one arm resting on his knees, a black band with skull and crossbones woven into it adorning his arm. He was the one who spoke.

Beside him was a stoic-looking woman with white hair done up in a bun, and oddly white eyes with black sclera. Hanataro thought it strange; no other Quincy he knew of had eyes like that.

"Ah…B-Bazz-B!"

Hanataro knew the Quincy with the Mohawk. He was one of the Stern Ritter who, having been betrayed by Yhwach, had aided the Gotei 13 in the construction of the Gate to the Soul King Palace. But no one knew what happened to him after the battle. Unlike his two companions, his body was never found. He looked at the woman and the scar on Bazz-B's chest. _Did this female Quincy save him, somehow?_

"But hardly something I'm interested in!" Bazz-B sounded like he didn't care, but Hanataro thought he heard otherwise in his voice.

Bazz-B stepped down from the hill in an instant, appearing at the edge of the crater. The female Quincy simply stepped down from the hill, and slowly walked towards the group. Hanataro looked at Bazz-B, and saw the look on his face. One of contemplation…And then one of rage.

Before Hanataro could understand what happened, Bazz-B's eyes seemed to become fire, and flames seemed to erupt from his body. He thrust his arm backwards for what looked like a pushing motion. " _Burning Full Fingers_!"

A torrent of five bands of heat in a spiralling cone erupted from his hand, and he pushed the conflagration inward towards the crater. The heat vaporized the debris it came into contact with, and expanded along the entire inside the crater, melting the and floor of the crater not vaporized into lava.

"Th-that was unnecessary!" Hanataro pleaded, shielding himself from the heat radiating from Bazz-B's body.

"Huh?!" Bazz-B turned to Hanataro, his irises ablaze with fire. When he blinked, the flame remained, but the fire emanating from his body dissipated. "I am just making sure the bastard is dead!" His eyes drifted back towards the now-burning crater.

"Yhwach. You called me "a powerless child"; said I only amounted to anything because Jugo made me a 'genius'. I realize now, that you likely phrased everything the way you did just to drive a wedge between me and Jugo…" The female Quincy looked on at Bazz-B worded his realization, and closed her eyes in sadness, "and to make Jugo, who wanted nothing more than to belong, completely obedient to you."

Bazz-B chuckled maliciously at Yhwach's funeral pyre. "But in the end, he gave me just enough power to survive when your eyes would believe me dead; he ordered Elsbeth to heal me, extract the Still Silver from my heart that would have killed me, and told her to hide the both of us in the Soul Society. He may not have been as "good" as you at using "The Almighty"…But he saw everything, including his own demise...and his Fate."

"Did you enjoy it?" Bazz-B placed his hand on the scar on his chest. "The Still Silver Arrow forged from the Silver in my heart, and in Jugo's? That Shinigami, Urahara, was the only one to find me and Elsbeth, yet kept quiet about our whereabouts in exchange for the Still Silver."

"Jugo's actions while you slept, and Urahara's silence made sure we survived…" Bazz-B glared at Hanataro and Yuki. "…While the Shinigami's Squad Zero eradicated every last man, woman and child in the Vandenreich."

Fear jolted through Hanataro's soul, as those burning eyes glared at him, and shame filled his heart. Hanataro was there in the Wahrwelt, after Yhwach was defeated. It was after Ichigo's Nakama, Ichigo's father and Ishida's father had gone back down to the Soul Society via one of the Fullbringers' abilities. All the Quincy in the Vandenreich had been gathered together, to stand trial for crimes against the Shinigami and the Seireitei.

 _Not the Soul Society, Living World or Hueco Mundo,_ Hanataro noted to himself, _just the Shinigami and Seireitei._

It was hardly a trial. The verdict was immediately given: Guilty. The penalty: the extinction of the Quincy race.

His heart ached as he saw Rukia's reaction to the verdict. She had tried to plead with Squad Zero, tried to reason with them that there had to be another way – a way for the Quincy to be redeemed and live in peace with the Shinigami. Captain-Commander Kyoraku had supported Rukia's assertions, but Ichibei Hyosube turned down the notion: the Quincy's crimes had extended to the hallowed Soul King Palace itself, and the murder of the Soul King, so it was within Squad Zero's authority to pass judgement.

To rub salt into the wound, he asked all the Shinigami Vice-Captains and Captains present in the Wahrwelt who agreed with the verdict.

Hanataro could still remember the ones who openly agreed to the verdict to this very day: Vice-Captain Shuuhei, Captain Hirako, Captain Soi Fong, Shihoin Yoruichi, Captain Kurotsuchi, who had turned the opinions of the Visoreds in favor, after he informed them of what a Quincy had done to Captains Muguruma and Otoribashi. He heard that Captain Tetsuzaemon also approved the decision, when they returned down to Seireitei.

 _Then again,_ Hanataro again reminded himself, _many of the Visoreds were Shinigami in the ranks when the Quincy Massacre of 225 years ago was carried out._

The final verdict came from the Central 46 shortly after: the Quincy had brought ruin to Seireitei, murdered thousands of Shinigami, intruded upon the Soul King Palace, killed the Soul King, and tried to destroy the balance of souls. The only verdict for such crimes was the extermination of the Quincy race.

Hanataro remembered Rukia's devastated expression when the final verdict came down, so much so that she ran as far away from the site as possible, not able to bear seeing the execution carried out. Hanataro followed her, and was with her when they heard the sounds of death even from the other side of the Wahrwelt, soon to be demolished and remade into the Soul King Palace. The Quincy who was Yhwach's second, a Quincy named Jugram Haschwalth, had his body made into the new Soul King. No one knew why a Quincy was chosen specifically. No one but Rukia seemed to care, so long as a new Soul King existed to keep the worlds together.

Rukia had told Hanataro that only Renji and her other friends in the Gotei 13 were the only reason why she stayed in the Gotei 13 at all. Even so, she couldn't bear to face Ichigo after being witness to the event since, although she did not approve and did not participate, she was complicit as a member of the Gotei 13.

Her reason for working to become a Captain was in the hopes she'd have enough authority to change the Gotei 13 from the inside out, so that she'd never have to witness something like that ever again, and never out of loyalty to the Gotei 13.

With support from Captain Kyoraku, Captain Zaraki, the other Captain Kuchiki, Captain Kotetsu, and Captain Hitsugaya, she did begin to make those changes. Enough that, thirteen years after her promotion, Ichigo and his friends were invited back to Soul Society for a formal ceremony – one that would establish a group in the Living World connected to the Gotei 13 as first-responders to Hollows in the Living World, one including Ichigo and his Nakama, and those Fullbringers once part of Xcution, and any Shinigami who chose to join them.

Ichigo brought his son, Kazui, to the Soul Society. Kazui was to be made an official Shinigami Representative before the formal announcement of the creation of the new Squad.

That was the day their happiness turned to despair.

Bazz-B turned back to the crater.

"But you got your wish, didn't you? You made Life and Death one, as it once was before the war a thousand years ago…"

 _It is the only reason why I was ever loyal to you for so long,_ Bazz-B recalled to himself. It was only when Auswahlen was used on him that Bazz-B's desire for revenge had been rekindled, even if he never forgave Jugo's 'betrayal'.

"…And the Quincy race began to be reborn among Human families in the Living World, no longer constrained to the bloodlines that bore a piece of your power and your blood, with you as the ruler of everything. And all the Quincy people who died as a result of your schemes were just expendable pawns towards that end.

"Well," he concluded, "now you are dead. Now, **_I_** have awakened the Eyes of the Quincy. I learnt the secret to these Eyes that you kept to yourself for a thousand years. And at last…I am the strongest Quincy."

He 'closed' the Eyes of the Quincy, the flames dying out to reveal his regular eyes. _I finally did it, Jugo._ "And you…Are now dust, as you should have been a thousand years ago…As I should have made your body before you regained your heart." _No that would not have worked,_ Bazz-B reminded himself, _since regaining his Heart and Intellect were all timed triggers made by "The Almighty" altering the future when he 'sealed' himself. He'd just reanimate, even if I burned his body to ash._

"…Still…Thank you for bringing back the Quincy race…Although I would have preferred it to be done by someone else's hands, rather than yours, and to be done another way."

Bazz-B turned away from the crater, and began to walk away. "Where are we going now, Master Bazz-B?" Elsbeth asked.

Bazz-B looked up to the sky. "Shinigami, you two are coming with me. I'm going to claim the crown of the Quincy."

Yuki Ryuunosuke replied with uncertainty. "But, why would you want to do that?"

"Yhwach still has followers," Bazz-B replied. "And any man like him who has followers will have those same followers fight to replace him once he dies. Now that he is dead, I can beat those followers down and become the new King of the Quincy." He turned back to Hanataro and Yuki. "And when I do, I'll have the Quincy make peace with you Shinigami. All the old guards are dead, and their grudges should die with them. That'd be much more preferable than to have another Quincy who shares Yhwach's views come about, right?"

Hope began to rise in Hanataro's heart. "Y-yes!"

"And you don't look like the kind of Shinigami who'd do what the Squad Zero did, so I don't doubt that you'd be fine with the Quincy and Shinigami living alongside each other, right?"

"Of course!" Hanataro said happily.

Bazz-B declared. "Then let's get going. We still have one last battle to fight."

* * *

Thus ends Yhwach's Vergeltung Lied. Bazzard Black, with the power of the Eyes of the Quincy, claims the title of King of the Quincy, and the Quincy make peace with the remaining Shinigami. Now, he leads them to a future where Quincy and Shinigami fight alongside each other as allies.

Yamada Hanataro, now the Shinigami Captain-Commander and Shinigami Representative of the Four World Guard Divisions, rebuilds the Shinigami, and takes great care to make sure none repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the last of the Espada after Yhwach's Vergeltung Lied, is King of Hueco Mundo, and builds a new society in the world of Hollows. Hollows, like the Quincy, are once more commonly born into Hueco Mundo itself, as Ulquiorra Cifer once was, rather than only from Human souls who lose their hearts, as it was under the Soul King.

Moe Shishigawara, the last Fullbringer who permanently parted ways with his former allies after Tsukishima Shukuro's death, creates New Xcution, training people with Fullbring potential to fight alongside the Quincy to protect Human souls, and is the formal ambassador for the governments of the world between Humans and the other spiritual races.

Kirin Komamura is now the Leader of the Komamura Clan, the Elder having died by Yhwach's hand after leaking Urahara Kisuke's location. He has gathered together the various Beast Clans from the furthest corners of the Soul Society, uniting them and leading them to rejoin the greater Soul Society, working with the Shinigami to better the lives of the Rukongai citizen. They are yet to find the means to break their collective curse.

The silent Gods of Soul Society, which once began to stir and gather their essence after the influence of the Soul King was gone, returned to slumber, content with the path of the world.

The Gates of Hell remain closed by the Wardens, sated with the souls of the Damned they collected. Behind those Gates, Yhwach's soul now slumbers in Chrysalis, condemned to a black Hell deprived of his senses.

Unlike other sinners, who break the Chrysalis and rampage in Hell in an attempt to break free, his soul is at peace and remains in the chrysalis, formed from his own heart, and will dissolve in two hundred years, and his past life will be left behind for a new life, free and redeemed from the sins of its past.

The King of Hell waited over two thousand years for the soul of Ichibei Hyosube to come to Hell. Now, stripped of Name and power, Ichibei Hyosube's soul is cast into the black nothingness in the heart of Hell. To forever remain alongside the greatest of sinners, eventually to forget who and what he is in the cold, black abyss, barred from reincarnation.

Such are the fates of souls that pass into Hell.

* * *

The epilogue to one Path is over. Now the pendulum swings to the past, to follow the Path of those who seek to change the course of Fate. The pendulum swings to a time, where a new Path is to be made. The Path that one man intended to be, but the Rain of Despair swung off-course.

Let the Path lead to the world as it should be.


	5. Reunion Across Time

**Reunion Across Time**

The Wahrwelt was built over the Soul King Palace by Yhwach, once he claimed the power of the Soul King for himself. The energy to move the reishi making up the Vandenreich from the Seireitei, and to re-form them within the Soul King Palace, was astronomical.

It was the conversion of mass into energy, to transport it to a location at the speed of causality – the speed of light – and convert it back to mass. The power to shape the worlds into whatever the one who controls this power desires.

Such is the ability of the Soul King in the hands of Yhwach.

But to create the world that Yhwach desired – one where Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and the Living World are once again one, where "Life" and "Death" are one – Yhwach needs one more component. That component is needed to make the separated power of the Soul King "complete", and only two powers in existence would fulfill Yhwach's need.

One of them, the Hollow and Quincy power of Kurosaki Ichigo, was in the Wahrwelt.

The other was down in the Seireitei, a power capable of breaking down the boundaries of the soul, and of "manifesting the desires of the soul" – the Hogyoku.

For now, Yhwach sleeps, and waits for Kurosaki Ichigo to come to him. He does not yet see the change to the "future".

But Haschwalth Jugram, who bears "The Almighty", will…

* * *

For a brief moment, a white gate blasted out two figures into one of the arms of the Wahrwelt, transported across time and space from the future of one of the "Paths" of Fate.

Arisawa Tatsuki and Uryu Ishida smashed through the living room of a house in the Wahrwelt before coming to a stop on the other side of the house.

* * *

Jugram Haschwalth paused, a lull briefly created in his fight with the younger Ishida Uryu. Uryu did not miss Jugram's reaction to the new arrivals. "What's wrong," he asked, panting from exertion, "did the future change?"

Uryu had hoped this was the case. If the future that Jugram foresaw did change, then he hoped it meant Kurosaki was successful in reaching Yhwach before he woke up. It meant that the war was over. But something troubled him, something telling him that this couldn't be the case, no matter how much he hoped.

He could still feel Yhwach's reiatsu. Ichigo was not yet there.

Haschwalth reached a hand to cover his face, and gave thought to what he had seen.

 _Where did they come from…?_ Haschwalth thought to himself. _They were nowhere in the possibilities of the future before. Their presence here has changed everything I am seeing with "The Almighty"._

Haschwalth lowered his hand from his face. _But I can still send "that future" to His Majesty's mind as a dream. If I can still hide what kills him in a dream; if I can keep him from seeing "that future"…_

 _Then, Bazz, I can be assured that we will succeed in leading His Majesty to his death._

"Something…curious has just taken place," Haschwalth spoke wryly, making sure not to expose what he had seen. "Some people…That I did not expect to arrive." _An older you, being one of them,_ Haschwalth noted. "But rest assured that it will not change the outcome of your friends going to confront His Majesty..." Haschwalth raised his sword. "…Nor will it change the outcome of our battle."

 _I could use the Antithesis to change the outcome at any moment;_ Uryu thought to himself, _the fact that he has not seen any futures involving my ability proves what Yhwach said about my power "surpassing his own"._ "Are you certain about that," Uryu retorted. _I must keep that…as a trump card._ "You seemed rather shocked by what you saw. Just who are these people?"

Haschwalth smiled. "I have no need to mince words with a struggling beast."

He lunged at Uryu, and Uryu raised his bow to fire an arrow in defense…

* * *

"Ow ow ow ow ow…" Uryu grimaced as he pushed himself up, eyes closed in pain. "It was much smoother the first time Koutotsu sent us through time."

"But you had Orihime there that time, didn't you?" Tatsuki stood up and dusted herself off. "She told me how she used her shields to shield everyone from the impact."

"Yes," Uryu adjusted his glasses and opened his eyes, "but she was also chastised for it, all the same…" He looked around.

The pure-white buildings constructed from stone and concrete, covered and encrusted with an ice that never seemed to melt, with Middle Age motifs to the building style. He involuntarily shivered – he never thought he'd see the semblance of the Vandenreich ever again. He also recalled this part of the Vandenreich.

"Uryu," Tatsuki asked, as Uryu walked over to a nearby alley. He knelt down, and picked up a bunch of chips scattered on the ground. He was very careful not to trigger them with his reiatsu.

He walked back to Tatsuki, and showed them to her. "These are Collapse Chips," Uryu told her. "Before…Before I sent Kurosaki, Inoue and Yasutora to kill Yhwach, I originally intended to use these to destroy the Wahrwelt…"

"You never mentioned this to me before," Tatsuki said, "why would you go to such lengths…"

Tatsuki looked around. She could feel the reiatsu of Shinigami and Quincy battling one another, including Urahara Kisuke, who seemed to be nearby. "…With all the Shinigami here as well…" She looked at him accusingly. She hated the thoughts that were going through her mind, but she had to ask them: "Were you going to destroy the Shinigami as well?"

Uryu's eyes widened in shock, and softened with guilt. "I…I did not think I had any other choice. "The Almighty" was too powerful, even before I learnt the truth about its ability to alter the future. With the ability "to know" any power and become immune to it, I thought only something that was not a 'power' any individual possessed – the power of a tool, a man-made weapon – would be sufficient to kill him. I had to take that chance…Even if it meant the Gotei 13…"

Tatsuki's eyes narrowed. "Rukia would have died with the Gotei 13 as well. But I at least heard about this part: you gave Ichigo and the others a Sun Key so they could return to the Living World."

Uryu gritted his teeth. "Tatsuki, we don't have…"

"Uryu," Tatsuki asserted, "I never knew everything about what happened in the Shinigami-Quincy War, but I at least heard about the parts I managed to get out of Ichigo when I asked him. But I'm just now realizing that you were going to take the chance of destroying the Gotei 13 – your **_Nakama_** – along with the Vandenreich and the Quincy of Yhwach…Yet you took the time to give Ichigo, Orihime and Sado a means for them to escape from the blast. Why? Ichigo simply assumed you joined the Vandenreich for revenge against Yhwach…"

Uryu turned to look at Tatsuki, his eyes pleading for her to not go down that road – to expose a shame he never revealed to anyone. "But there is more to it than that, isn't there? Uryu," Tatsuki said softly, taking a hand in hers, and placing the other on Uryu's face. "Haven't we known each other long enough for me to know at least this?"

Uryu reached a hand to the one Tatsuki placed on his cheek. _She's right. She is someone else to me now; someone that no one else has ever been. She deserve to know this much._ He took in a deep breath, and spoke:

"I did not want the Shinigami to turn Kurosaki into the next Soul King."

Tatsuki's eyes widened, in shock. "Wait," Tatsuki spoke, trembling as realization hit her. "So even back then…you knew…?"

A pulse of a powerful reiatsu passed over them, interrupting their thoughts and diverting their attention away from the issue they were discussing. They turned in unison, sensing the reiatsu coming from where they had sensed Urahara's reiatsu.

"Now I know what moment Urahara sent us back to," Uryu spoke. "He sent us to the time he was fighting Askin Nakk le Vaar." Uryu turned to Tatsuki in earnest. "I'm sorry, but we can't talk about this right now!"

Tatsuki nodded wordlessly, and followed Uryu as they went to where Urahara was, keeping their reiatsu suppressed so that the people they did not want to sense their presence would be able to. A few minutes running later, and they came upon a giant dark dome with a white reishi patterning surrounding it.

They could sense Urahara's reiatsu within the Dome.

"So this Askin Nakk le Vaar," Tatsuki asked, wondering if she was pronouncing the Quincy's name right, "is the guy responsible for Urahara having all those scars."

"Yes," Uryu answered. "His power was one called "The Death-Dealing". Apparently, depending on what substance he takes into his body, he can control the 'lethal dose median' of specific substances in other people. For example, he could make someone collapse from 'poisoning' by the reishi in the atmosphere itself."

Tatsuki looked quizzically at Uryu. "Sounds like a broken power."

Uryu responded incredulously. "As if either of us can talk about other people's powers being 'broken'".

The dome in front of them contracted, the spherical dome becoming more conical in appearance, and the reiatsu it put out became more intense. "Shouldn't we break this thing open?" Tatsuki asked.

"We can," Uryu responded, "but I don't want to inadvertently do something that might cause the battle inside to go awry!

"Oh, now you are concerned about changing the past," Tatsuki barked. "Yet we were sent back to pull a Marty McFly and change everyone's present to change the future!"

"That reference doesn't fit!" Uryu protested. "McFly caused those changes by accident when he had to prevent his own existence from disappearing; we're deliberately trying to cause change, not prevent our erasure from existence!"

"Given that changing the future will keep everyone we love from dying, that is about a good enough comparison, don't you think?!"

A reiatsu within the dome faltered, and the two turned to look at the dome. It was the reiatsu of a Quincy. There was the reiatsu of an Arrancar now in the dome. Tatsuki shivered as he recognized the reiatsu. "This Arrancar's reiatsu…It's like that one guy who beat up Ichigo."

"Yeah," Uryu said. "I remember now; Urahara recruited Grimmjow after he made a deal with him: Grimmjow would give Urahara his co-operation in defeating the enemy, and Urahara would help Grimmjow discover the means to grow even more powerful as an Arrancar."

"That guy was the King of Hueco Mundo back in our time," Tatsuki recollected. "So, that is how he did it."

"Before Grimmjow, the ruler of Hueco Mundo was Tier Harribel…" Uryu closed his eye. "She was the leader of the Stern Ritter that you killed a month ago."

Tatsuki looked at Uryu. "But she was a Quincy, not a…"

"Yhwach is able to convert Arrancar into Quincy," Uryu responded. "I can only reason that he gives his blood those Arrancar who join him, and that causes the holes in their bodies and Hearts to be filled…And the process turns them into Quincy."

Suddenly, the reiatsu from the dome intensified exponentially, and even began to spark. Tatsuki and Uryu looked up at the dome wide-eyed. "What the…What's happening?!" Tatsuki exclaimed.

"I don't know," Uryu replied, "but this might be what caused Urahara to have all those scars!"

Tatsuki made an annoyed sound, and pulled out her Zanpakuto. Uryu looked at her. "Tatsuki, what are you…?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Tatsuki responded. "I'm going to burn this dome down!"

"But Urahara survived, so there's no need to…!" Uryu protested.

"Yet he was bed-ridden and unconscious for over a week afterwards! We need him up on his feet NOW!"

Uryu stepped back from Tatsuki and gave her room.

"Purify the World, _Okamiryuu – Wolf Dragon!"_

* * *

Urahara Kisuke coughed blood as he collapsed, the effects of the "Gift Ball Deluxe" putting an inconceivable strain on his body. Kannon Biraki Benihime Aratame, in response to her master's suffering, collapsed around him. Without her power, the stitching he made into his body when he used her power to "restructure" on himself began to open, blood spurting out.

"…I guess this is it…" Urahara muttered, resigned to even the possibility of his death, despite the preparation he made. "…Sorry…To leave the rest of this up to you…" In this moment, Urahara's thoughts turned to the two people he trusted with his life to make a change in the world – to defeat Yhwach and to guide the world down the right path, to a world as it should be. His life flashed before him, as he recounted the moments where he incorporated them into his tapestry for the world's future, knowing full well the hardships they'd have to go through.

"…Kurosaki…Kuchiki…"

The "Gift Ball Deluxe" was suddenly immolated all around him, an incandescent blue flame consuming the Quincy technique and exposing the sky around him, the effects of "Hassein" now extinguished. Urahara's vitality, though greatly weakened, returned to him, and he looked up at the sky. "The…"Gift Ball", it…"

Grimmjow looked around and got onto his feet. "What the hell just happened?"

Neliel popped out of the path that Urahara had made in the "Gift Ball Deluxe", and looked around, bewildered. "But…there was a dome here just a second ago…"

"…Now that's just not fair…" Askin moaned, who was still not dead despite his injuries. He looked past Urahara to see the ones responsible for his "Gift Ball's" destruction. "So you did betray us, Ishida…But who is the fine lady with the odd Zanpakuto?"

"Ishida…?" Urahara muttered, disoriented from the "Death-Dealing". "…What lady…?"

"I think you should be thanking us instead of complaining."

Urahara's eyes widened. Despite it sounding older from time, he still recognized the voice of one of Ichigo's friends. But it just could not be! He turned to the source of the voice.

Uryu Ishida stood behind Arisawa Tatsuki. However, Uryu was not wearing the Vandenreich uniform; Tatsuki was in a Shihakusho and possessed the powers of the Shinigami. It was indeed an odd-looking Zanpakuto – a furred hilt in the shape of a living wolf with two hind legs and no front legs, with Tatsuki's fingers wrapped through what he presumed was a handle obscured by the fur, the head facing downward. Extending from the hind of the "wolf hilt" was a long, winding tail extending back into the hilt, a blue flame pouring off of the thick blade at the end of the tail, receding back into the fur as it retracted.

But both of them seemed…inexplicably older. The 'scent of power' that clung to them, however, reminded Urahara of Koutotsu. Urahara processed all of the possibilities inside his head, and came to the most logical conclusion – one that exposed a grievous error to his own plan for Kurosaki.

He struggled to his feet, panting as the opened stitches slowly poured blood, even as they were now sealing up his body again, now that he could maintain consciousness and Kannon Biraki Benihime Aratame. "Can I assume…That I somehow used Koutotsu to send you backwards in time to here?"

The immediate and correct question took Tatsuki and Uryu slightly off-guard. They did not expect the younger self of Urahara Kisuke to catch on to things so quickly. "You're both older at least two decades, by my guess…and the scent of Koutotsu is all over you…" Urahara explained. He sighed, and briefly coughed blood.

"Urahara!" Uryu ran over to Urahara, and supported him on his shoulder. "I suppose…" Urahara spoke, "…This means things did not turn out the way I intended them to."

Tatsuki looked sadly at Urahara. "And exactly what was it you 'intended'?" Grimmjow spoke with a hint of menace, as he walked over to Tatsuki, who glared at the Arrancar. "I could not care less about what you intended, but if you sent these guys back from some future, this must be something you very badly want."

"Urahara never told us specifically what he wanted," Tatsuki told Grimmjow. "All we were sent back here for, as far as we know, was to make sure events play out in a way that doesn't end up with Yhwach coming back from the dead over two decades from now and killing everyone."

"Huh?" Grimmjow gritted his teeth in annoyance. "So you mean that bastard Kurosaki couldn't even keep that Quincy King down **even after killing him**?" His eyes glared back at the Wahrwelt. "Pathetic."

Tatsuki glared at Grimmjow. "Could you permanently kill a guy who can "alter the future"?"

Grimmjow looked at Tatsuki in apprehension. "What was that? I heard that guy could "see the future", but altering it in any way he can see fit? That sounds like something only God can do."

"Well…" Urahara said as he sat on the ground while Uryu tended his wounds with Quincy healing techniques. "From a technical standpoint, Yhwach's soul _is_ that of a God. It was one long before he absorbed the Soul King. But given that we are on the subject of "The Almighty"…Did Kurosaki falter when he was confronted with this power?"

There was another question that Tatsuki rather wanted to ask, rather than answer Urahara: did he know about this aspect of "The Almighty", and why didn't he tell anyone? But now wasn't the time. She had to brief Urahara on what happened, as the future Urahara instructed them.

"He didn't falter; he will break." The memory of Ichigo tugged at her heart, as he explained what happened. "Yhwach first broke Ichigo's "Tensa Zangetsu", bypassed Inoue's shield, and explained in detail the extent of his power. Ichigo…he told me that he could think of no way of beating such a power, especially with "Tensa Zangetsu" broken so easily. He never fought anyone or anything like that before, and…

"It was a moment of weakness he was ashamed of, he told me," Tatsuki continued. "He completely fell into despair at the thought of such an overwhelming ability even taking away his ability to shape his own future. The only thing that kept him going was how he knew that _everyone_ was depending on him; how everyone needed him to beat Yhwach, because no one else could. But Yhwach beat that out of him, and left him completely helpless. He told me that, with his Bankai broken, there was no way he could have beaten Yhwach. He just…gave up, for one moment.

"Then Yhwach stole his Quincy and Hollow powers from him – stole everything he inherited from his mother. But…You already considered that a possibility didn't you?" Tatsuki glared at Urahara, indirectly posing her question.

Urahara closed his eyes. Now, he decided, was the time to admit his guilt. "…Yes. I always consider all the possibilities, and make the best plans for the worst possible outcomes. I recruited the Xcutioners who had died and gone to Soul Society so that Tsukishima might use "Book of the End" to allow for "Tensa Zangetsu" to be restored by the Soten Kisshun, by creating a "past" that changes the "present", and create a "present" where Kurosaki's Bankai wasn't broken "in the future". That was only ever intended as a last resort, however. Did…Kuchiki-San, at the very least, accompany Kurosaki, afterwards?"

Uryu looked at Urahara sadly. "…No, she stayed behind. Ichigo felt there was no time, and Rukia was too injured to use Sode no Shirayuki safely. With the help of a Still Silver Arrow my father gave me, we were able to take away Yhwach's power for a moment, and Ichigo cut him in half…But he must have been able to use them one more time the moments before his death.

"Ten years later," Uryu explained, taking care to omit specific details, "Yhwach's power appeared in the future, and 'gave' his essence to a chosen host. Thirteen years after that, once his power had built up enough…he destroyed the Gotei 13, killed Kurosaki and Kuchiki, and made the worlds one."

"…I see…" Urahara lamented. "I suppose that, no matter how much I plan for all the possibilities, I cannot precisely take into account the hearts and emotions of others."

"It is not your fault," Tatsuki re-assured him. "Ichigo…He already bore enough of his own guilt, before he died."

"No, it is," Urahara explained. "I kept so many secrets from Kurosaki…from the both of them; because I thought "learning these things on their own" would be better than explaining things to them directly. Had I actually told them more of what they needed to know about themselves, instead of "only what I thought they needed to know" at the time, I know things would have turned out differently. That said…Squad Zero already knew everything about Kurosaki.

"I had to keep everything about Kuchiki hidden."

Tatsuki's brow furrowed. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Kuchiki was…the Ace in the Hole, so to speak. Aside from trying to kill Yhwach after taking away his eyes completely…Her power was one of the few means to kill him permanently, overriding his ability to 'alter futures where he died'."

"Kuchiki," Grimmjow expressed his disbelief. "You mean that small, scrawny Shinigami with the white Zanpakuto that froze my skin once? How could she possess the power to kill someone who can 'alter the future', much less someone whom you just said was a God?"

"Because her power isn't simple "freezing", or control of ice; those are merely the by-products of the true nature of her power."

"What is it?" Neliel asked. "Neliel once saw Rukia freeze Runuganga with wind. She even killed Aaroniero and survived, despite Aaroniero reporting that she died with him."

Urahara stood up on the ground, sufficiently healed by Uryu's healing technique and Kannon Biraki's stitches finally absorbing into his body. He looked at everyone around him, and looked to Mirai Ishida and Mirai Arisawa (his new terms for them in his mind). "I must have never told you, Mirai Ishida?"

Uryu raised an eyebrow at the term. "No, you didn't. Urahara…You felt that only your past self should explain. Though Kuchiki once told me that her power was to reduce the temperature of her body to below zero by manipulating the reishi of her body, which also allows her to move around in that state. She even said she could reduce it down to Absolute Zero, though I was never sure how that worked. I simply concluded physics with Souls differed from physics in the Living World."

Urahara replied. "That isn't exactly the case."

"What do you mean?"

Urahara drew in a breath to speak…


	6. Antithesis of Death-Dealing

**Antithesis of Death-Dealing**

"Manipulate the reishi of one's body to reduce their temperatures to temperatures as far down as Absolute Zero?" Askin chimed in. "Manipulating the reishi of her body to move sounds like a Quincy ability, not a Shinigami one…" Askin's words caused gears to click together in Uryu's mind, and an impossible realization came to his mind, his eyes widening in response. "…But it sounds like something like that should kill her, unless she had a secondary ability like my "Death-Dealing"."

"And how are you still alive, you little shit?" Grimmjow growled, looking at Askin. His eyes widened as he saw the hole in Askin's body now closed. Now, everyone was turning to look at Askin. "But I tore out your heart!" Grimmjow protested. "And I thought you Quincy were supposed to be poisoned by Hollow reiatsu."

"Oh, please," Askin moaned. "I adapt to reiatsu, remember? My body has always adapted to Hollow reiatsu, albeit it is still very painful for me. His Majesty took me in because, despite being the victim of a severe Hollow attack, I was still alive and kicking. Once he gave me his Schrift, I 'became immune' immediately, and recovered."

"To explain my 'secondary ability'," Askin continued, "it pains me to say this, but my power instinctively adjusts my own "lethal dose median" towards any form of injury, no matter how severe. It is very…" He winced, as he grabbed the area over his heart. "…It is very much an inconvenience, having to regenerate a heart and deal with Hollow reiryoku at the same time. Tough luck, my friend."

Grimmjow ground his teeth together. The next chance he got, he'd just tear Askin's head off. "…But enough about me," Askin said. "Now, as you were saying about this Kuchiki girl, Urahara? What is her special ability…And what part does she have in the world you seek to make with your own hands? After all, Absolute Zero is something that should be impossible to achieve."

"And what makes you think he'd want to explain anything to you?" Tatsuki asked. "Wouldn't you just try to tell Yhwach the moment we let you go?"

Askin looked at Tatsuki sadly. "Who said anything about 'going back to His Majesty'? I lost in battle, it is that simple. He will have no more use for me and, at one point or another; I will become another victim of the Auswahlen. I assume this fate befell me from wherever you came from, yes, Ishida?"

Uryu looked at Askin with sympathy. He knew full well what Askin was talking about. Once Yhwach had absorbed Ichigo's Quincy and Hollow power in his timeline, he had used Auswahlen on all the remaining Stern Ritter because he no longer had any use for their powers. "…Yes, that was the case."

"...I see," Askin spoke in resignation. "Although dying does sound nice, I would have liked to see what world comes after this one. Either way," he raised his hands in surrender, "I suppose my fate is now in your hands…Your Majesty."

Uryu's eyes narrowed. "I am not 'Your Majesty'."

"You may not think so," Askin retorted, "but you are His Majesty's chosen successor all the same. The fact you are even standing here while all the other Stern Ritter died…I can see why you were chosen: you are immune to his power."

"…Yes. Immune to Auswahlen…" Uryu's memories flashed to his mother, and all the Quincy killed by the Auswahlen while he himself was unscathed, "…And immune to his ability "to alter the future"." Uryu looked out over the horizon to the East. There was a glimmer of light starting to shine over the Wahrwelt. "It is almost morning. Tatsuki," Uryu said, "you should get going. …Be careful."

Tatsuki looked at Uryu, and nodded wordlessly. They had already discussed this before they had been sent into the past: Because Uryu was already present in these events; he could not risk undue involvement in them and change the future in a way they did not want.

…At least, not until Tatsuki was able to prevent "That Moment". When she did so, only then would Mirai Ishida decided to intervene in events. "I will," Tatsuki replied, and made her way for the seat of the Wahrwelt.

Urahara looked on as Tatsuki ran off to confront Yhwach. He gave a sad smile. "Yet another example of how the Path could have changed, had I chosen to do things a little differently. I just…Didn't want to bear even more responsibility for my actions."

Uryu analysed Urahara's expression closely. "You mean the Hogyoku?"

"Yes. I knew that, when Kuchiki came to Karakura Town with the Hogyoku inside her…When she was by Kurosaki's side, I always knew the chances were likely that there'd be Humans who would end up manifesting spiritual abilities, or begin to see spirits. So long as it was the latter, I could let things be for a time. But with the former…Yasutora and Inoue both manifested the power of Fullbring, due to the circumstances under which the Hogyoku "manifested their desires". At that point, I had to take responsibility for them. That is the sole reason why I decided to have Yoruichi teach them how to use their powers.

"It is sad," Urahara commented. "As much as I like to plan for all the possibilities, I, much like Aizen, also leave so much up to chance, in the hope things play out as I desire them to."

Urahara looked around at everyone remaining. "Mirai Ishida," he said, "I noticed in your eyes that you must have realized something about Kuchiki when Askin spoke," he gestured to the Schutzstaffel on the ground. "I advise you to keep it to yourself for the time being. Right now, all you need to know is the true ability of her Zanpakuto. Do you understand?"

Uryu replied. "Yes, I do." _If it is what I think it is, it could end up changing everything. Urahara…Did you know this when you did not tell us?_

Urahara nodded at Uryu's response, and drew in a breath to speak. Urahara spoke. "The ability of Sode no Shirayuki…Is to manipulate Entropy itself."

* * *

 **NOTE: I was originally going to post the previous chapter, this one, and the next one as one chapter, but the resulting chapter would have been too big, and tackled too many subjects at once, so I decided to divide them into three chapters for the purpose of subject organization.**


	7. White Entropy

**I would like to give a shout-out to and give credit to Gunner Palace, since it was their explanation for Sode no Shirayuki's ability in a theory they made that inspired me to give this explanation.**

 **As it pertains to what is revealed in this chapter, there is another path I can take with what is explained (involving Ichigo), but that would be a spoiler for what exactly I have planned for Ichigo.**

 **The rest, on the other hand, is my own explanation and idea.**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **White Entropy**

The words of Urahara Kisuke caused a sudden shift in the mind-sets of everyone surrounding him, ranging from disbelief, to realization, to confusion.

"…Entropy!" Uryu spoke, as realization dawned.

"Yes. And you are wrong, in part, about physics with Souls differing from the Living World. The spiritual world simply encompasses another set of rules yet unknown to those in the Living World. The basic laws known to Humans, such as the Laws of Thermodynamics, still pertain to Souls. Yet Sode no Shirayuki is one of those rare powers which defy Reason itself – her ability to control Entropy allows her to break all three of the Laws of Thermodynamics.

"Heat energy is not conserved between her and any objects she interacts with, as all temperatures are reduced equally to the same level, violating the first law; heat does not flow into her from her surroundings, as she maintains a set temperature at all times, violating the second law; the fact she can reach Absolute Zero at all breaks the Third Law.

"Part of the theory on Entropy is that entropy is the amount of information necessary to describe a system." Urahara narrated. "You cannot 'decrease' Entropy directly, since heat simply flows from a hotter system to a cooler one in an effort to attain thermal equilibrium."

"But you are saying that the Kuchiki girl doesn't do that?" Grimmjow asked.

"That's right, Grimmjow. Rather, she can decrease Entropy by removing heat from any object of her choosing. In doing so, **she destroys information at the fundamental level.** "

Grimmjow's eyes widened, in shock. Askin spoke. "Ah, so that is why she is so valuable to you: you believe that, if Ms. Kuchiki could kill Yhwach with that power when she reduces his Entropy to zero…"

Urahara finished. "There will be no information that he can "send forward to the future". And it wouldn't be just Yhwach that Kuchiki's power could destroy…"

Uryu's eyes narrowed. "…But it could destroy the Hogyoku, as well." Urahara looked at Uryu. Uryu raised a hand. "In the battle that Kuchiki fought in where she died, in my time, Yhwach had killed Aizen and taken the Hogyoku from him. I still recall what Yhwach said as clear as day: 'This was a timeline where **all of you** gave up on moving forward. So I will take everything from you, and once again move the world forward.'

"Yhwach, at that time, was effectively immortal, so we thought there was no way to kill Yhwach. That didn't stop us from trying, though. Kuchiki pushed herself beyond her limits when she used Hakka no Togame against Yhwach. She was not able to kill him, and…" Uryu closed his eyes, recalling the painful memory. "…She succumbed to her own power, and dissolved into mist…" Uryu opened them again. "But it was not in vain, because the Hogyoku itself dissipated into nothingness along with her. Perhaps…Yhwach only survived what happened, because the Hogyoku 'took his place'".

"…I see." Urahara spoke. He smiled sadly. "Making the Hogyoku was probably my greatest success…and my greatest mistake. It is fitting, that she was indeed able to destroy the thing that brought her and everyone so much hardship."

Neliel was amazed by what she was hearing. Did Rukia really have so great a power that she could compare it to Barragan's Respira? The Respira of Barragan Louisenbairn was known far and wide in Hueco Mundo as absolute and even Hollows who had more reiatsu than Barragan either did not challenge him because of that power, or just did not care about ruling Hueco Mundo.

So for Neliel to learn that a Shinigami had such a power was astounding, to say the least.

Urahara looked past everyone to some place in the distance. "It seems like Yoruichi is re-gaining consciousness." He began to walk off. "Neliel, Grimmjow, come with me. Mirai Ishida…I suggest that you take Askin with you wherever you intend to go next. I don't want to raise any questions immediately right now with Yoruichi. Besides," he smiled nervously, "she's probably going to be pissed off at me for making her transform against her wishes. She never liked how her personality changed when she entered that form."

Askin got up off his feet. "I can imagine why she wouldn't like it, but the reason why you did it was because it was one of your "possibilities" for beating me. Without that beastly form of hers, she couldn't even lay a scratch on me."

"Precisely; I don't have fun except for my own amusement. Oh," Urahara said as an after-thought, "Neliel, you did heal Yuushiro while we were fighting, right?"

"Ah, yes, I did." Neliel replied hurriedly.

Urahara used Shunpo to propel himself to Yoruichi's location, and Neliel and Grimmjow followed with Sonido. That left Ishida Uryu and Askin Nakk le Vaar alone. "Well, now," Askin inquired. "What was it you were planning to do, 'Your Majesty', since you sent your girl-friend to fight His Majesty on her own?"

Uryu looked pointedly at Askin. His gaze went towards the impossible-to-miss Gerard Valkyrie. He formed a platform of reishi in the air, and beckoned Askin to get on.

They were going to cross the empty space between the arms of the Wahrwelt.

"Assuming things go as intended, and if it results in Yhwach not using Auswahlen, then someone needs to take care of Gerard Valkyrie…The Heart of the Soul King."

"Ah," Askin said, "and I assume you have a means of taking care of that gigantic colossus he's become? Honestly, this is actually the first time anyone has ever pushed Gerard that far, since I've never seen that form of him, before. It makes me realize that there may have been truth to him being the Heart of the Soul King, after all. And if that is the case, for Pernida being the Left Arm as well. Pernida's appearance always seemed…Off, and no one ever saw what they looked like under the hood."

Uryu spoke: "… "The Soul King's power is divided between eight parts of his body. The Body of the Soul King governs "Soul Regulation"; the Right Arm of the Soul King governs "Stillness", and the Left Arm of the Soul King governs "Evolution"; the Heart of the Soul King governs "Emotion" – to draw in the thoughts, feelings and desires of those around it, and "convert" those emotions into power; the Mind of the Soul King governs "Imagination" – to manipulate the world around him into whatever he imagines by 'Turning thoughts into reality'…"

Askin's eyes widened in realization. While Askin did not know where Ishida Uryu got this information from, he realized that what Uryu just spoke of had to relate to Gremmy Thoumeaux. While the rumors behind the Schutzstaffel were because it was known they had their abilities before Yhwach bestowed Schrift upon them, none knew what the case was for Gremmy. He just…appeared from nowhere one day. Certainly, his power was at another level entirely, even compared to Pernida or Gerard, but he was just too dangerous to partake in any major battle alongside others (that massive meteorite that would have obliterated Seireitei attests to that much).

 _But it makes sense – Gremmy was another part of the Soul King!_

"…The Right Leg of the Soul King governs "Force" – to manipulate gravitational and electromagnetic forces and to manipulate kinetic energies…" … _The Legs of the Soul King?_ Askin thought, now curious, _where did he get information on those from?_

 _…_ _Probably from Urahara Kisuke. I'll bet my supply of coffee beans on it._

"…The Left Leg of the Soul King…Governs 'Entropy'." Uryu finished.

" 'Entropy'; You mean like that Kuchiki girl that Urahara talked about? But that can't be possible, even if she is a Shinigami!"

"Kuchiki cannot be this Left Leg," Uryu corrected Askin, "Since she was abandoned in the Rukongai by her sister as a baby 150 years ago. But what you said about her ability being more like that of a Quincy than a Shinigami…It made me realize something."

"What was that?" Askin inquired.

"The Urahara from my time was the one who told me about the Aspects of the Soul King," Uryu explained, "and he explained how all of them, without question, possessed the powers of and identified themselves as Quincy…Because the man whom the Shinigami turned into the Soul King **was a Quincy."**

"Hmm…Now that makes quite a bit of sense," Askin mentioned. "Yhwach called the Soul King 'his father', and Quincy blood cannot forgive the existence of the Soul King. Though…It may be more specific to say, Yhwach's blood cannot forgive the Soul King."

"What the texts do not mention – texts I recall Urahara saying Mayuri was imprisoned in the Maggot's Nest for finding and reading - is that the "Soul Regulation" was the power "created" by the Soul Society; the true, seventh power of the Soul King lies in his eyes – "Causality"."

"I take it that refers to "The Almighty"," Askin guessed, judging the two of them to be half-way to the other arm of the Wahrwelt – the one nearest the battle with Gerard. And morning was fast coming, as it always does in the summer.

"I suppose seeing into the future, becoming immune to any and all powers he "Knows" and "altering the future" would fit such ability. But many of the things you listed about the Soul King are different from the powers I know His Majesty to possess…" He protested with an annoyed look.

"Of course they would; they share similar abilities, but not the exact same. For Yhwach and his father, Yeshua, it is "bloodline ability"."

Askin's eyes widened in surprised. "…Yeshua…"

"But the abilities of the Soul King – Yeshua – are all part of one power: an absolute control over energy in all its form. I believe that, with such a plethora of power, it is not impossible for other Quincy to bear abilities similar to those ones."

"For example, Haschwalth's "The Balance"…" _Although he is 'on my side' right now,_ Uryu thought, _I can't reveal "The Antithesis" to anyone here yet – not until Yhwach has left._ "…Can manipulate "fortune" and "misfortune" – if one is "fortune", he can counter it with equal "misfortune"; if one does damage to him, he can redirect the "misfortune" he suffered against the opponent who inflicts it – two-fold. That is what would qualify as a "Causality-based" ability.

"As far as I know, only Quincy can possess this kind of ability."

"Oh," Askin spoke in understanding, "and I suppose that has to do with what I said about Ms. Kuchiki, somehow." They reached the arm of the Wahrwelt, and stepped off, far enough from the battle so that no one would immediately notice them, and isolated enough so that no one nearby might come across them accidentally.

"What you said about reishi manipulation is what made me come to that realization initially," Uryu explained, "but having Urahara say her power is control of Entropy confirmed it. What you said is true – to manipulate the reishi of her own body to move in a death-like state is an ability that sounds like one a Quincy would have rather than a Shinigami one. For that matter, not even Ransotengai involves so precise a level of reishi manipulation – threads of reishi controlled by the mind are used to control a Quincy's body with Ransotengai; Kuchiki can use her mind to control the reishi of her body directly, and perhaps even flow reishi through her body in place of her stopped biological functions."

"Alright, I get it," Askin gripped his head. "It is giving me a head-ache, but I get what you are saying: you believe that Kuchiki isn't just a Shinigami, **but that she is also a latent Quincy**. That is quite the leap in logic, 'Your Majesty'…"

Uryu raised his hand to quiet Askin. "Just…Call me Uryu. No one except Tatsuki and my family has ever called me by my first name…not even my friends."

Askin looked at Uryu with some degree of sympathy. A bit of a smile quirked to his lips, when he realized what his words meant exactly about the woman he came here with. "Does this apply to 'Her Highness' as well?"

"WHAT?!" Uryu blanched in shocked.

"HA!" Askin pointed at Uryu. "So you really are involved with that girl, after all!"

Uryu's face turned a bright red, and grabbed Askin by the shoulders. "THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"


	8. Moment of Revelation

**Credits to Cnet128 and BadKarma, whose translations I used for the dialogue taken from chapter 677-679 in the latter half of this chapter, and chapter 674 and 672**

* * *

 **The Moment of Revelation**

 _The only way to never change is to never move forward,_

 _Because people walk through life in transit from one moment to another._

 _It is in Moments of Revelation where the world pauses._

 _For they know nothing will be the same as it was, when they move forward again._

\- Arisawa Tatsuki no Mirai

* * *

Author's Note: From this chapter onward, I will be writing these poems, in the vein of the original manga volumes, and they will accompany chapters where I feel that a character holds prominence.

* * *

The pendulum of Time once again moves. Now, all things change.

 _Kurosaki Ichigo stands before Yhwach in his throne room. On his back, Ichigo bears his original Zangetsu, and in the garb of his past self. On his throne, Yhwach was without the power of the Soul King. Ichigo unsheathes Zangetsu, charges the sleeping Quincy king, and cuts through him. Yhwach's eyes shoot open in shock._

Morning came to the Wahrwelt, and Yhwach awakened from sleep. "Ah, morning has come. Such a pleasant dream…" He bore his teeth in a vicious smile. "…Nightmares are more enjoyable than dreams." Yhwach, unaware of what the "dream" entailed for his own future, knew that Kurosaki Ichigo would soon be standing before him. Anyone who came with him was inconsequential.

For Yhwach would come to decide the fate of the world, depending on how his battle with his Son born in Darkness fared against him. He saw a marvelous future involving Kurosaki Ichigo, the first time he laid eyes upon him. Now was time to see if the Ichigo of the present would step towards that future.

The Moment of Revelation was about to come.

* * *

Bazzard Black slowly opened his heavy eyes, exhaustion coursing through his body. _What…Where am I? Am I…Dead?_ He moves his eyes around the room he is in. They settle on a white haired woman with black sclera and white irises. She notices Bazz-B's eyes opening. "You're awake."

Bazz-B's eyes narrowed. It was Elsbeth, Jugo's personal assistant. But what was she doing…? He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain coursed through his chest and made him lie down again. He gripped his hand to his chest…And pulled it back when he felt cotton and binding over his heart. "I suggest not moving much more than you need to," Elsbeth told him. "It was a delicate procedure to begin with, and I may not have had much time."

"What did you do?" Bazz-B asked, anger tinging his voice.

"On orders from Master Haschwalth, I saved your life."

Bazz-B's eyes shot open. _Jugo…He did what?_ He looked at Elsbeth, his eyes pleading for an explanation.

"With your power already taken by Auswahlen, the injuries inflicted by Master Haschwalth would have ordinarily killed you…But he imparted just enough power to save your life. His Majesty…He can see many things with "The Almighty", but when he sleeps, he cannot. When he went to sleep, he would have seen you dead in the future…But when he is asleep, and Master Haschwalth bears "The Almighty", that is able to change.

"Master Haschwalth ordered me to heal you, and extract the Still Silver beginning to form in your heart, after "the Almighty" passed onto him." She formed a string of reishi between her fingers. "I had to be quick, and very delicate in the procedure, but I was able."

Bazz-B closed his eyes. "Why would he go through all that trouble?"

"…To protect your life, after His Majesty dies."

Bazz-B's eyes snapped open. "What?"

Elsbeth gave Bazz-B a soft smile. "You do not understand, yet. Everything Master Haschwalth has done, it was all for the moment when, closer to his Majesty than anyone else, he could use His Majesty's own power to deceive him, and lead him to his death."

Old thoughts and memories echoed through Bazz-B's mind. _We were both determined to work our way into Yhwach's favor, and find an opportunity to kill him._

 _That bastard,_ tears poured from Bazz-B's eyes, and he covered his face with his hand, _All this time, he was just doing what we had always planned…And I hated him for it, because I was only thinking how I would be the one to do it…All because I…_

"Master Haschwalth loved you, Bazz-B," Elsbeth told him. "You treated him as a person when no one else would, and held onto that love even after you did not. His Majesty gave him value, he once told me…But you gave him purpose for living. Now, he wants to repay you." Elsbeth propped up Bazz-B slowly, and helped him get on his feet. "We must get going. From what Master Haschwalth told me, no Quincy will survive the 'justice' of Squad Zero when His Majesty falls, so we must make for Soul Society."

She gathered up the extracted Still Silver from the bin by Bazz-B's bedside, and led him to the door. _Jugo…Thank you._ Bazz-B smiled softly, and looked down to the floor…

…And realized that his right arm was just a stump. "Wha-! Where's my right arm!" He asked Elsbeth.

"Don't shout, or you'll open my stitches." Elsbeth scolded him. "Besides, after your arm was cut off, the fire of your own power burnt it to a crisp. I couldn't re-attach it even if I wanted to."

"Not even with some cool cybernetic arm!" Bazz-B protested. "Some "K" you are! You can make a robot to fight in your place in the Stern Ritter, yet you can't do something as simple as make a robot arm!"

Elsbeth narrowed her eyes in frustration. "I did not have the time to make measurements."

Elsbeth "K – The Knowledge" Lloyd lacked the potential to fight as a Stern Ritter, a stark contrast to her older twin brothers, Loyd and Royd. In her place, she built the BG line until BG9 was deemed combat capable – strong enough to defeat a Captain one-on-one.

Like her brothers, she was a rare Quincy who was born with the basic form of their ability – in her case, to know the nature of all things she sees with her eyes.

By her eyes, the Star Medallion and the Vollstandig had been perfected.

* * *

Arisawa Tatsuki made her way through the Wahrwelt, taking care to avoid any undue attention from anyone she did not want to be found by. She did not need to wonder when it would begin; Ichigo's reiatsu reverberated throughout the Wahrwelt when he had arrived at the throne.

The reiatsu sent waves of recognition through her soul, and she briefly stopped to look up to the top of Wahrwelt. "…Ichigo…" Her voice wavered as she finally realized that, after so long, she would once again see her childhood friend again, alive and well. She steeled herself against the tears of happiness that were trying to form in her eyes. She lacked the power to help Ichigo in the past.

Now, that would change. But right now, what she needed to do was make a quick stop and pick up Ichigo's dead-beat dad.

She knew that Kurosaki Isshin and Ishida Ryuuken had come up to the Wahrwelt during the final day of the war in order to deliver the Still Silver arrow to Uryu – another one of Urahara's contingencies in case things went wrong. What boggled her is why Isshin did not bother to go help his son at that time. Perhaps he believed that Ichigo would still be able to defeat Yhwach, despite what might happen (Ichigo did), but that was not something that Tatsuki was keen to let repeat.

She made her way through the Wahrwelt in haste, to the spot where they were going to appear. She stopped behind a building when she heard voices. "That's a surprise. To think this transit token would still work after so many decades." _Ishida Ryuuken,_ Tatsuki recognized the voice. "We oughta be grateful to your old man for having the wherewithal to grab it when he was being exiled." Tatsuki's eyes widened. _Kurosaki-San!_

"I suppose so. This will be the first time in my life I am thankful for my no-good father's thieving ways."

"Is that any way to talk about your dad? It's no wonder your own son shows you no respect."

Tatsuki chose that moment to step out from behind the wall. "Kurosaki-San!"

Ryuuken and Isshin turned their heads in alarm, worried they had been found by a member of the Vandenreich already. Instead, they froze in confusion when they saw Arisawa Tatsuki, now looking the same age as the both of them, standing before them.

"But…" Isshin raised pointed fingers at Tatsuki, almost speechless in disbelief. "How…?"

"I can explain things to you on the way," Tatsuki told him, "but right now, I need you to come with me!"

Isshin, for once, was at a complete loss for words. He looked her up and down, and Tatsuki was almost certain that he was going to say something about "how she had grown". She kicked his ass the last time he commented on how she had 'developed' when he saw her for the first time since she was twelve.

Instead, Isshin's eyes widened in shock. "…The Hell? Did Urahara-san send you back from the future or something? You have the scent of Koutotsu all over you."

Tatsuki averted her eyes in irritation. Was she going to get this reaction from everyone she met? She was really irked she could not do the whole "I came from the future" speech that was cliché in time travel stories.

"…Yes." She conceded.

Isshin's face went from shocked to solemn within a second of Tatsuki's confirmation. "Do things…Go that bad, where you are from?"

"Not until over two decades from now," Tatsuki told him, "but yes…Everyone, including you, is killed."

Isshin looked down at the ground. "Well, that just sucks…" Tatsuki walked towards him, and gave him a tight hug, surprising him. "I'm just so happy to see even one familiar face alive again," she said with a sad joy.

"Oh," Isshin replied, "well, your welc-aaaaaaH!" Tatsuki broke the embrace, and immediately began pulling Isshin behind her in haste.

"Wait!" Ryuuken yelled after them. "What about-!"

"Don't worry about us, Dad! Just get the arrow to your Uryu, and meet up afterwards with my Uryu!"

Ryuuken froze in his tracks, watching Tatsuki and Isshin round a corner as he had to ponder Tatsuki's slip of the tongue, which he couldn't even be certain was a "slip of the tongue".

 _Dad? My Uryu? Her…Uryu…_ Ryuuken smiled warmly, and went to search for his son. _I don't know how long it took you, my son…But I'm happy you finally found someone…._

* * *

"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" Tatsuki muttered to herself as she ran ahead of Isshin. "How could I have spilt so much in one go?!"

"Oh, don't be so embarrassed about it," Isshin said wryly, "that look he had on his face was quite refreshing! He's usually so sour-looking. But that entire thing aside," Isshin's tone became serious, "for Urahara to make you a Shinigami, and send both you and Uryu back into the past, Urahara must want things done a different way very badly."

Tatsuki diverted her mind from her slip of the tongue, and replied to Isshin's inquiry. "The turning point of it all is when Ichigo has his Quincy and Hollow power stolen by Yhwach. It was effectively over when Yhwach used the true power of "The Almighty" openly. Ichigo was still able to kill Yhwach with Uryu's help…But Yhwach just used that same power to come back to life later on. But Ichigo…With the core of his Hollow and Quincy powers taken from him – the same powers which were his Zanpakuto Spirits – Ichigo lost the potential to use Bankai again."

"…That is very bad," Isshin remarked. "My son loved being a Shinigami. He has always wanted to protect everyone within arm's reach of himself, but…To be so thoroughly broken by what happened with Yhwach…"

"It was not just that. He heard that Squad Zero and Central 46 decided upon the massacre of the Quincy, but only after it had already been done. He told me it…disillusioned him, saying he could not continue being a Shinigami in good conscience after that."

"…I see. That is the opposite of what my son would have wanted."

"All he could – all any of us could do – was accept that it happened and move on with life...Because that is the way the world is. When he gave up on being a Shinigami, I suppose it had an effect on all of us. It's strange, how that works; what affects one person can reverberate and affect everyone around them."

"Humans are empathic individuals, Tatsuki," Isshin answered, "of course we will always be swayed by those around us…"

An explosion of reiatsu reverberated up above from the Wahrwelt Palace as an explosion sent debris flying, a reiatsu that had a distinctly…Hollow-like feel. "Ichigo," Tatsuki remarked as she looked up, and she picked up the pace. "We don't have much time. We must hurry. If we are not there before Yhwach…It will be all over."

* * *

"A Getsuga Tenshou?!" Yhwach yelled, seeing Ichigo raised the white Zangetsu. "It is all the same - I will merely…"

The crescent of the Getsuga began to release curving scythes of energy from the Getsuga, silencing Yhwach's words. _No…This is not a Getsuga Tenshou…_ Yhwach recalled that Ichigo had raised his white Zangetsu through a splatter of his own blood, from the wound Yhwach had just inflicted upon him. … _This is a Getsuga Tenshou mixed into…A Gran Rey Cero._

Ichigo bared his teeth in a Hollow-like grin, eyes made white from the light of the Getsuga-infused Gran Rey Cero, and swung Zangetsu down, striking Yhwach with a Getsuga that distorted Space itself. "A…A fusion of Getsuga Tenshou and Gran Rey Cero…Truly, this is a power fitting for one such as yourself…One who was born as a fusion of all things…"

However, as Yhwach did so earlier in the fight, he wanted to push Ichigo even further. No attack from a mere Shikai, no matter how powerful, no matter what kind of being, could fell him so easily. He pressed against the Getsuga with both his hands, shattering the shell containing the energy and smothering it with his reiatsu. "But as I said…You are still too feeble, Ichigo!"

He saw Ichigo leap forward again off the remnants of a pillar, and he manifested a blade of reishi to block the strike. "I know what you are thinking, Ichigo!" Yhwach proclaimed. ""He is underestimating me. That is why he does not use his power, and that is why he does not appreciate my full potential in this fused Hollow Form. This is my only chance. My only opportunity to defeat him is to strike now, whoe he is still underestimating me.""

Yhwach knew this logic all too well, and the inverse of it. He hid his powers a thousand years ago because he knew that they could not overcome the offensive and defensive powers of _Zanka no Tachi._ It was a necessity because, had they known, they would not have underestimated him as much as they did. He would not have been able to take the Monk as off-guard as he did, even if he did get as far as the Soul King Palace itself with "The Almighty" closed.

He knew all this, because the Shinigami knew the powers of his father. That was how they overcame his father and turned him into their puppet, the Soul King.

"You are quite right," Yhwach declared, and prepared for his final test of Kurosaki Ichigo's resolve, "and that opportunity ends now!" He opened "The Almighty", and the eyes of the Soul King opened themselves across his entire body. For the briefest instant, he saw it: the new possibilities brought about by Arisawa Tatsuki's intervention in the fight, and where those possibilities would lead to.

In that instant, he chose to keep on a path as if he did not see the changes to the future. He knew what her presence entailed. He could use it to test Ichigo's resolve. "Your power is great, Ichigo! So I can let my guard down no longer!"

 _Yhwach and Ichigo clashs their blades, "The Almighty" allowing Yhwach to see the future in the next few seconds overlap with Ichigo's movements in the present, and to counter every strike as Ichigo makes it. As Ichigo draws his other Zangetsu, Yhwach manifests another reishi blade to counter, and knock him away. "Did you think you were the only one who could wield two blades?!"_

 _As Ichigo descends to the ground, Yhwach uses "The Almighty" to alter the future. "Careful, now. Do not be hasty. There is a trap in your path."_ **Let us see how long it takes him to figure it out.**

 _A black spike of the power of the Soul King erupts from the ground and pierces Ichigo's foot_. _He can see Ichigo react and leap onto the nearby pillar. He places a trap there as well. "Yes. There as well."_

 _Black spikes run through Ichigo's foot, and he collapses to the ground, wondering if the entire area is laced with traps. Yhwach leaps at Ichigo with a thrusting stab, but Ichigo jumps out of the way. Yhwach does not "alter the future" yet. "I have already told you, Ichigo. My power, The Almighty, allows me to see the future."_

 _Ichigo speaks: "So by looking into the future, you can place traps where you know I'm going to step, is that it?! Then how do you explain why your attack just now didn't hit me…?!"_

 _Yhwach smiles at Ichigo. It humors him that Ichigo is thinking so linearly about his power, not yet comprehending what its true nature is. He makes for another strike, and Ichigo dodges again. He knows what Ichigo will think: he missed again, so that must mean the Almighty must have some kind of limitation, or else why would he counter his attacks instead of simply blocking them._

 _"_ _So, you are searching," Yhwach asserts, watching Ichigo make for high-ground, "for a chink in my ability. "I can change the future." If you evolve your own abilities in the midst of battle, you will be able to forge a new future, different from that which I have seen. That is what you are thinking, yes?"_

 _Yhwach observes where Ichigo stands – the remnants of a pillar earlier destroyed in the fight. Now he decides that he will test Ichigo's comprehension of his power one more time. "Very well. Then stand right where you are, and let us see."_

 _Ichigo's eyes widen, and black spikes rip through his back and destroy the pauldron of his armor. Ichigo reacts in pain, and falls to the ground._

 _What is this…?_ Ichigo thought. _What's going on…? A trap suddenly appeared at my feet…_

"Ichigo. I don't think you quite understand," Yhwach explains. "The future is not a single, straight path stretching out from the past. The future is like countless grains of sand scattered outward from the present. Though they may seem utterly different, each one of those countless grains is a future. To put it another way, each grain represents one of countless 'possibilities'…" _Even if, I suspect, that woman came from a future and altered the possibilities once already played out._

"Ichigo. I enjoy speaking of "hope". "The future can be changed". A wonderful truth, rich with hope. "You can evolve in the course of battle". True enough. That, too, is a truth filled with hope. However…To "change the future"…Is merely to shift from one of those grains of sand…to another in the vast, scattered cloud. And I have the ability to gaze down upon all those grains from on high."

 _Now, Ichigo, let us see how you march forward. Show your resolve._ "Do not abandon your hope, Ichigo. You can continue as you always have. Just as ever, you can keep leaping with your eyes between those grains of sand that we call "Destiny" or "possibility". That is the "hope" granted to all Humans. Do not succumb to despair. There is nothing so painful for a parent as to kill his own child in the midst of despair."

 _But if you do succumb, Ichigo, I will kill you as my child. I will take all the power you inherited from your mother, and I shall make that power my own. Because I will know that you have given up on your own future, and your own potential._

As Ichigo listened to Yhwach's own words, his thoughts went back to the words of another. The words of the person who reminded him of how many times he had faced despair before and had emerged victorious. His mind flashed through the painful memories of his past: Ginjo's betrayal and the loss of his Fullbring; the monstrous power Aizen attained via Hogyoku; his powerlessness against Aizen in Soul Society.

And the first and foremost in his mind: the night Rukia gave herself up for execution to protect Ichigo. And the night when his mother died.

"What's that about "Despair"?" Ichigo raised his blade. "I know all about despair. I've encountered it again and again, and every time I've conquered it!"

Ichigo raised the two Zangetsu up, and brought them together.

"Ban! Kai!"

A spout of reiatsu billowed up around Ichigo as he released the power of his Zanpakuto, and he jumped out of the reiatsu-spout, his "Bankai" brandished.

"Tensa Zangetsu!"

Ichigo knew that the form of "Tensa Zangetsu" he wielded right now was an intermediary form, one brought about by joining the two Zangetsu he wielded previously into one blade. He knew that the blade would eventually undergo a metamorphosis as, just as they did when he trained in the Dangai to defeat Aizen Sousuke, the two Zangetsu "became one". Once the metamorphosis was complete, "Tensa Zangetsu" would break apart as his Zanpakuto reverted back to Shikai, to the form of the original Zangetsu.

Zangetsu has two abilities – one of which was as-yet unknown to Ichigo but subtly present; the other was its cutting power. Ichigo's potent reiatsu, focused and concentrated along the edges of the Zanpakuto, bestows Zangetsu with an incredible attack power which, as it did time again in past battles, could cut through even the strongest of abilities of Ichigo's foes, when in unison with its other ability.

Before, the full potential of this cutting power had yet to come to the surface, suppressed by the Quincy side of Ichigo's power. Even the intermediary "Tensa Zangetsu" possessed a cutting power matched only by one other Zanpakuto.

This is the power that Yhwach saw with "The Almighty" – one that could cut through all of his defenses and weapons, including the shroud of the Soul King itself; one with a Getsuga of such intensity that Yhwach knew he'd be hard-pressed to survive when used against him. Yhwach acknowledged the power of this "Tensa Zangetsu" as formidable and dangerous to himself.

But this was the extent that Yhwach saw. He did not see the future where it shed itself to reveal the original Zangetsu, hidden as it was by Haschwalth through the dream.

 _But how will my son behave if I take that power away from him?_

But Yhwach also saw that it was not unbreakable. So, through the future, he broke it. Now was no longer the time for him to test Ichigo.

The instant after Ichigo spoke its name, the chain shattered, and one half of Tensa Zangetsu simply "vanished". Ichigo only noticed because of the sound of a chain in the wind, and the sudden lightness of "Tensa Zangetsu".

His eyes looked over to Tensa Zangetsu in shock. _Tensa Zangetsu…Is broken?!_ Ichigo could not comprehend how, but he could only think of one person who might be responsible. He looked down at Yhwach, who had raised the tip of Tensa Zangetsu into the air before dropping it down to the ground.

Ichigo could not comprehend what he had just seen. _What is this? What's happening?! Did he snap it? No, I didn't feel his reiatsu. He didn't move from that spot!_

"No need to make such a horrified face," Yhwach spoke, satisfied with the initial reaction. "Ichigo. I merely demonstrated my respect for your power. This new Tensa Zangetsu…It is a dangerous Bankai. That was my judgement, and that is why I took the precaution of snapping it in the future."

Ichigo remained in the air, shocked into silence, and not understanding Yhwach's explanation. "You do not understand my words, I see. But alas, you have no time to waste working it out. Ichigo. I told you I would not let my guard down." He raised his right hand up, and unveiled the Hollow horn he had snapped off from Ichigo's head.

Ichigo did not have time to think, even as Yhwach threw the broken off conduit of his Hollow powers at him. Ichigo deflected the horn.

Yhwach did not move. He did not have to move. He simply "altered the future" to make it so he himself was already behind Ichigo. He swung his blade and smashed Ichigo into the ground. Ichigo immediately rebounded off the ground and looked in Yhwach's direction, but the effects of his Bankai and Hollow horn being broken were already apparent – his sclera had lost their Hollow coloring.

Yhwach "teleported" himself again, gouging out Ichigo's side with a powerful strike, and he bounced off one broken pillar and landed on another. Yhwach made for another strike, knowing this one would be blocked by the woman's, Inoue Orihime's, shield. It did not matter, he had already "altered" the future to make the hit land.

In a moment that would already have been a fatal distraction, he called to the woman who came up the steps. Then his chest was torn open with the slash that would have connected had the shield not blocked. "But how…?! I blocked his attack…!"

Yhwach swatted Ichigo down from the pillar, and jumped down. He felt himself coming to a crossroads. He saw that, within the next few minutes, Arisawa Tatsuki and Kurosaki Isshin would arrive and interrupt the battle. It would make it that much harder for him to take Ichigo's power for his own.

Even what he would do in place of stealing Ichigo's power, would be made harder if Ichigo's Tensa Zangetsu were fixed.

He surveyed the future. He silted out what originally would have been had Arisawa Tatsuki not been present, and what would happen now – he saw the Fullbringer, Tsukishima Shukuro, use his power on Ichigo to make a new "past" where "Tensa Zangetsu" was not broken in all possible futures, one that would allow the woman's power to repair Tensa Zangetsu.

 _The power born of Hollow reiatsu fusing with a Human soul…Not unexpected, I suppose._ Yhwach knew that Hollows, along with Soul-based powers derived from their Hearts comprising their Masks, their physical bodies, and unique abilities, had an affinity for "Dimension-based powers". They were the race that could open pathways between dimensions without the aid of an external source; the Negacion, a natural ability of all Menos, enfolded anyone within the light in an impenetrable dimension separate from the present one. Some expressed this affinity through their abilities, such as the former God-King of Hueco Mundo, Barragan Louisenbairn _,_ whose power manipulated the "dimension of Time".

By extension, he knew the nature of Fullbring – to manipulate and empower the "soul in matter" to bring about effects normally impossible with just the regular "soul in matter", either through the object's normal "nature", or through the ability of the Fullbringer. Yhwach had seen Inoue Orihime's power, so he "knew" how it worked – the shields were barriers comprised of reiryoku, and reiryoku barriers are inherently durable enough to withstand attacks from even entities many-fold stronger than the one who cast them, depending on their function.

He knew the "Soten Kisshun" boosted the "soul in matter" within the field, and manipulated the soul to return itself to a point the "memory of the souls in matter" remember before the target was damaged. But in that same way, he knew the limitation of Fullbring – only what is possible is able to be brought about, not the impossible. That is why her power failed to revive the Soul King – the body of the Soul King was just a vessel for a mass of power that had taken the place of the original soul. The original man, his father, was long dead.

And he knew how fragile the woman's Shun Shun Rikka was…

"Did you never stop to wonder…?" Yhwach asked Ichigo. "How simply seeing the future could allow me to plant traps at each and every place where you set foot?" He saw the look in Ichigo's eyes. He knew the idea was taking root. Now was the time to confirm. "I'm sure you already have an inkling of the answer. Yes, that's exactly it. "The Future can be changed." That was what you told me, yes?"

Yhwach flared his reiatsu, the shroud of the Soul King rising up like a flame with eyes staring directly at Ichigo. ""The Almighty" is not merely the power to see the future. It is the power to alter it." Yhwach saw the alarm and fear that shrouded both their faces immediately. Do not be afraid. In truth, my power is no different from your own. Just as your powers only allow you to influence the single instant that you can see with your own eyes…Mine only allows me to influence the multitude of futures that I can see with mine."

 _And just like you, I can only do so within the limits of power that I currently possess._

"Ichigo, it is true that you have faced despair and conquered it by changing the future many times in the past. Do you know why you were able to accomplish this? It is because I was not there."

Yhwach could see it: the future where Ichigo would give up before his power and he would take it – a future where Arisawa Tatsuki and Kurosaki Isshin had not yet arrived. It disappointed him that it seemed the grains of sand of Ichigo's future were pointing towards that point. But that was not his concern, right now. Because of the unforeseen intrusion of Arisawa Tatsuki, now was the time to be cautious.

"As for you, woman," Yhwach spoke, "your power allows you to 'return things to a point before events occur'. While it is an impressive ability, for a Human infused with Hollow reiryoku…" He raised his hand, and held two large asterisk-shaped hair ornaments in his hands for Ichigo and Orihime to see.

Ichigo's eyes widened, and Orihime reached for the side of her head in panicked disbelief, feeling only hair where her Rikka had been. "Wha- My Rikka…!"

"The vessel they are contained in, much like their wielder…"

Panicked eyes darted to where Yhwach stood, with one horrifying fear dominating her mind: _If Yhwach breaks my Rikka, then…I WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO HELP KUROSAKI-KUN!_

"…Are pitifully fragile."

"STOOOOP!" Orihime pleaded, desperate to not see her power destroyed.

A small, blue flame of reishi formed in the palm of Yhwach's hand, and quickly exploded into a roaring flame that disintegrated the bonds holding the matter of the Shun Shun Rikka together, burning the Fullbring-enhanced hairpins down to reishi particles, with not a single shard left.

Orihime's mouth opened, but no words came out, and she clutched her head as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that, now, she was completely without powers with which to help Ichigo. She fell to her knees as tears of despair came to her eyes. "But right now, Ichigo", Yhwach continued saying to Ichigo, "You are not my main concern, and nor was that woman."

"Because someone I did not see before with my eyes at any point is about to arrive." Yhwach revealed.

"What…?!" Ichigo said, before he began to sense two new reiatsu approach the area. He recognized one of them immediately as his father's. But the other one…He did not know it, yet their reiatsu was somehow…familiar...

He got up off his feet, and looked past Yhwach, the realization hitting him like a bolt of lightning, mystified and confused by how it was possible. He had sensed it once before – it was much smaller than now, but it was still the same. But it should not have been possible for that person to be here, Ichigo thought to himself, because that person had no powers, the last he knew.

"Ah, I see you recognize that reiatsu."

A figure came over the steps to the former palace room of the Wahrwelt. Ichigo gasped as he immediately recognized the person she saw, no matter how much older she seemed to be now, no matter if she wore the garb of a Shinigami. He did not pretend to understand it, but he also knew now, from the scent of power around her and its familiarity to Koutotsu, that she was not the same person that he knew, and that she was from someplace else…From some _when_ else.

"Tatsuki?!" Ichigo blurted out.

"Ichigo…" Emotion welled in Tatsuki as she recognized the beaten form of her childhood friend, and the man who stood before him.

Yhwach turned, and gave her a malicious smile. "Welcome to the past, Arisawa Tatsuki."


	9. Continual Divergence

**I already have a lot more typed up, but I decided to divide up the next chapter, since I suspect that it will make for easier reading to have shorter chapters. Again, credit to Cnet128 at MangaHelpers for wherever I used their translation for dialogue.**

* * *

 **Continual Divergence**

"As unexpected as your interference is," Yhwach continued, turning away from Ichigo to fully face Tatsuki, "you are only in time to see Kurosaki Ichigo fall."

Tatsuki's eyes narrowed as she turned her face to look at Yhwach. It was her first time seeing the man as he originally appeared, not when he wore the body of someone else. "Is that so?" She retorted. "It looks to me that I came just in time."

Footsteps came up from the stairs behind her, as Isshin came into view. "DAD?!" Ichigo yelped, shocked to see the appearance of his father as well, before he looked back at Tatsuki. "Tatsuki, when did you and Dad…More importantly, why are you…?"

"I can explain it another time," Tatsuki told Ichigo, as she drew her Zanpakuto from her side, "after we've dealt with Yhwach."

While the conversation between the new arrivals, and Ichigo and Yhwach progressed, Inoue Orihime was still kneeling on the ground, tear-soaked face looking at Tatsuki in confusion, dismay, and one other emotion.

 _Eh? What is going on? Why is Tatsuki-chan here? Why does she look older? Why is she a Shinigami? Why…?_ Her eyes turned to look at Ichigo, who looked at Tatsuki in bewilderment, the fear from moments before replaced by surprise and wondering. _Why is Kuorsaki-Kun looking at her like that?_

Her eyes diverted back to Tatsuki, as she made herself ask the question. "Ta…Tatsuki-chan…?"

Tatsuki's expression lightened, as she turned to look at Orihime. She smiled at her old friend. "Yeah, it's me, Orihime." Her eyes widened as she noticed that there was something off about her friend's appearances. Her eyes darted to Inoue's hair, and noticed the Rikka were missing. "Orihime, what happened to your Rikka?"

"It…It was Yhwach," Orihime spoke, her voice shaking as tears stream down them. "He…He destroyed my Rikka…They're gone…Now I won't be able to help…" _Kurosaki-Kun,_ Orihime thought to herself, for she could not finish her sentence, in her despair.

Tatsuki looked darkly at Yhwach, and gritted her teeth. She did not need to ask why it happened. Her only concern was the consequences to her friend. "You bastard," she growled, "I'll make you pay for doing that!"

Yhwach bared his teeth in a vicious grin, and the eyes of "The Almighty" flared in the shroud of the Soul King, lifting his blade. "I see you already understand," Yhwach spoke menacingly, "that I destroyed her power as my welcome to you! Without her power, Kurosaki Ichigo's blade cannot be repaired! And you will not have him as an ally to fight against me!"

Orihime froze and looked on, even as Isshin wordlessly erected a Kido barrier around her to keep her safe from the coming. _What did…He say? That he only destroyed my Rikka because…Tatsuki-Chan came here?_

Wordlessly, Tatsuki unleashed _Okamiryuu,_ her blade transforming into the two-legged wolf, its blade-tail extending outward, and intense blue flames erupted along the wolf's form, and covered Tatsuki's form.

"Ichigo!" Yhwach declared. "Look upon the form of your friend from the distant future!" Tatsuki's expression changed to a stunned comprehension, before tranquil rage took over. "Her presence in the past can only mean one thing for you!"

Ichigo turned his face towards Tatsuki, unbridled fear and worry for Tatsuki coming over him as the implications of her presence, and Yhwach's reason for destroying Inoue's Rikka, struck home. _It means that, even if Inoue could fix Tensa Zangetsu so I could fight Yhwach again…_

"IT MEANS I WON, ICHIGO!"

The flaming aura around Tatsuki's flared, and she propelled herself towards Yhwach, slashing _Okamiryuu_ down at Yhwach. The Quincy Emperor raised his blade to block _Okamiryuu_ , the torrent of flames soaking over Yhwach's form and the shroud of the Soul King. _These flames…_ Yhwach realized as the flames bore down around him. _How curious. These are not the flames of a Shinigami, despite her appearance…_

"Yeah, you won," Tatsuki replied, "but you also died just before I came back here!" Yhwach's eyes widened at Tatsuki's remark, and she replied with a predatory smile. "I simply came back here to make sure that you die when you should have!"

"Hah," Yhwach mused, "it seems Urahara Kisuke was more trouble than even I could have foreseen. Somehow finding the power to kill me in your time, and sending you back here…However futile it might be!"

Without warning, the blade of _Okamiryuu_ broke, and the body of the blade spurted blood as it was knocked out of Tatsuki's hands by an invisible force.

Ichigo's eyes widened and he stood up on his feet, broken Tensa Zangetsu in hand. _Tatsuki can't stand up to "The Almighty" on her own! I have to do something! To hell with it "altering the future"!_ He already lost his mother to Yhwach; he was not going to let him kill his childhood friend, no matter what time she was from.

Ichigo charged as Yhwach raised his blade to bring it down upon Tatsuki. The fire around Tatsuki, however, did not cease, and she grabbed Yhwach's arm before his blade could connect. Yhwach grinned, and he called forth the power of the Soul King. A wave of darkness swirled around him, and it knocked both Ichigo and Tatsuki through the air, away from Yhwach. He turned his gaze away from Tatsuki, and looked in the direction of Isshin, who had already swung down his blade to fire a Getsuga against Yhwach. Yhwach raised a hand, and blew apart the Getsuga with raw force.

"The three of you are wise to all come at me at once," Yhwach spoke, and turned his head to look at Ichigo, "especially you, my son. To think that merely the threat of your friend from childhood meeting her end would be enough to motivate you against me."

"He is not your son, Yhwach," Isshin spoke out, staring down the man who caused the death of his beloved wife. "He is mine and Masaki's child. You have no claim on him."

"Oh?" Yhwach turned to Isshin. "That is a funny thing for you to say. One half of his Zanpakuto is Quincy – a piece of my soul that has replicated itself and passed through his mother's bloodline for the past one thousand years…" He raised his right hand to illustrate.

Ichigo's expression subtly changed as Yhwach casually revealed the truth about Old Man Zangetsu. _"I am Yhwach, and I am not Yhwach…I am not your enemy. And I am not your ally."_ These words echoed in Ichigo's mind as he realized, finally, what Old Man Zangetsu meant – although not entirely understanding how, Old Man Zangetsu was a piece of Yhwach's own soul.

"On the other hand," Yhwach raised his left hand, "the other half of his Zanpakuto is a Hollow – a Hollow forged by Aizen Sousuke from a Shinigami's soul, which chose to infect Kurosaki Masaki. All he inherited from you," he pointed at Isshin, "was the Getsuga and the ancestral secret of the Shiba Clan. That…And…"

Yhwach diverted his gaze. _Okamiryuu_ began to shake, and propelled itself off the ground in a torrent of flame. Yhwach sent forth the power of the Soul King, only for the blue flames to burn through the torrent of power. The flames gave way to reveal a large wolf, mouth open and lunging at him. Yhwach gave a sound of annoyance, and raised his arm to take the bite.

As the wolf's fangs dug into his arm, the blue flame poured from its mouth and into where it had bitten. In the same breath, its blade-tail extended forward, and aimed for Yhwach's face. Yhwach flared his power, throwing _Okamiryuu_ off his arm and blowing it away. It landed on its paws beside Arisawa Tatsuki.

"It's the _four of us_ ," Tatsuki emphasized, rubbing _Okamiryuu's_ back. " _Okamiryuu_ is a living Zanpakuto. And I bet you can see it," she warned Yhwach, "that we aren't the only ones coming here."

"Yes, that is right," Yhwach spoke, looking over his options. Arisawa Tatsuki's presence and interference had greatly narrowed down the paths he could take to reclaim the world. As he surveyed his options, he found a delightful irony in his choice: it seems that, what was once the most dangerous course of action for him to take was the one most likely to succeed now.

"But I'll be leaving."

He pointed an index finger at the ground, and the power of Mimihagi spread out along the ground…

* * *

Meanwhile, in a lower section of the Wahrwelt…

"You said these scales measure our decisions, yes?" Uryu spoke, as he pushed himself up off the ground. "I made my decision…to be with those people…But it has nothing to do with my benefit. Nothing to do with right answers, or wrong answers. It's simply because," Uryu finished, resolution in his heart, "they're my friends."

Jugram Haschwalth glared down at Uryu, as if he had become the shadow of death. He realized that Uryu Ishida was "Antithesis" in more ways than one – he did not accept the necessity of sacrifice, the necessity of having to give up his bonds for the achievement of a greater goal. It was a regret that Haschwalth had borne with him ever since he had left Bazz-B to join Yhwach, so he could achieve their shared dream.

Jugram Haschwalth realized why, when caught between him and his friends, Uryu had immediately abandoned his façade of loyalty to Yhwach and the Quincy – he never thought once of giving up his old bonds to pursue his goals; instead, he was willing to destroy everything else for their sake.

"I see. I understand now." A thousand years of pent-up self-loathing bubbled to the surface. "Though His Majesty has deigned to recognize you, you are not prepared to give up anything." He swung his blade into the air to strike down Uryu. "Then at least you must give up your life! Ishida Uryu!"

 _He's completely open! Now!_

Uryu understood that Haschwalth had made a mistake. Both "The Antithesis" and "The Balance" were equally effective against one another. One wasn't inherently "weak" to the other. In fact, Uryu knew now he could exploit "The Balance" in his favor.

In the instant before Haschwalth struck, all the wounds that had been inflicted upon Uryu during the fight, including those Haschwalth had directed upon Uryu via the Freund Schild, were transposed upon Haschwalth in that single moment.

Haschwalth began to collapse from the cumulative pain of the wounds transposed upon his own body, his eyes still focused on the healthy Uryu, who immediately used Hirenkyaku to move himself away from the field of battle, and out of Haschwalth's sight. _Damnit,_ Haschwalth thought, as he fell down to the ground, _I underestimated "The Antithesis" and Ishida. Now he will come face-to-face with His Majesty, and then…_

He raised his hand to the hole in the roof, towards where Yhwach was. "That woman's presence changed too much," Haschwalth spoke to no one but himself. "Everything could have ended by this day. Now…I do not know what will happen."

Haschwalth summoned the Freund Schild, and pondered the possibilities. If the dream he had sent Yhwach still came to pass, and yet he survived, it would jeopardize Haschwalth's entire position. He wished he would die before his duplicity was discovered. He had prepared himself for death in such a manner. Now the future was an unknown canvas.

Haschwalth transferred all his wounds into the Freund Schild, and the Schild re-directed the wounds to a large section of wall on the far side of the room. The wall was blasted apart as the damage to his body was redirected into it, reduced to fine sand.

"I can only hope," Haschwalth conceded, "that what comes next may yet be better than…the loss of everything for the Quincy race that I foresaw."

* * *

On the lower level of the Wahrwelt, a tumultuous battle still wore on. Gerard Valkyrie, the Heart of the Soul King, now stood before Kuchiki Byakuya and Hitsugaya Toshiro as a colossus of light and reishi, towering over the city in a form attained by the power of the Schrift of Yhwach – the power of the Son, mixed with the power of the Father.

Toshiro and Byakuya landed on nearby buildings that had yet to be reduced to rubble by the hulking colossus that stood before them. "Damnit," Toshiro said to Byakuya, "this monster is impossible. We can't even lay a scratch on him in his new form."

"Not with the means we are using right now," Byakuya told Toshiro, "a thing like this…would require us to use our strongest abilities." _I have not used Hakuteiken since my fight with Ichigo_ , Byakuya mused to himself. _Well, I already used Senkei; I cannot let my pride dictate what way I use my blade, any longer._

"That is easy for you to say," Toshiro said, panting. "Tenso Jurin was already dangerous enough with the old Daiguren Hyorinmaru; with Daiguren complete…"

"DO NOT PRESUME TO THINK YOUR POWERS CAN KILL ME AS I AM NOW," Gerard's voice bellowed forth from his face, and he raised his hand up. "YOU CANNOT DESTROY MIRACLES!"

* * *

"What the hell is this?!" Tatsuki yelled, as the black essence of Mimihagi streamed outwards, forming a circle around Yhwach. Everyone leapt back as black, towering crosses and barriers formed along the circle around Yhwach, a halo of darkness hovering above the formation.

"Sankt Zwinger," Yhwach answered, "Augmented by the Right Arm of the Soul King. The power of Right Arm is "Stillness" – Time, Space, Life and Death, Disease and Decay; all become still before it. You cross this boundary unprepared, its light and darkness will rent you asunder. Your only recourse…Is to break it."

"But until you do," Yhwach opened a dark portal in front of him, "I will take care of things in Soul Society."

"What?!" Ichigo exclaimed. "What could you want down in the Soul Society?"

"That will be for you to earn the right to find out," Yhwach spoke, "because by the time you do arrive…I will have attained what I will have gone for."

Tatsuki's eyes widened. "Ah," Yhwach said, amused, "so you know what I am talking about, Arisawa Tatsuki."

Footsteps echoed from behind them, and Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji finally arrived, looking at the scene before them with hardened resolve.

"I must admire the resilience of you Shinigami," Yhwach mused, looking at Rukia and Renji, "or is it that you left your allies behind to deal with my subordinates just to get to me? However, with your wounds as they are now, the only thing keeping you going is your resolve." Yhwach turned his gaze upon Rukia. "Still, if you wish to pursue me, this gate will remain open, even after you break the Sankt Zwinger. If you do come after me…"

Tatsuki gritted her teeth. She could not bear the thought of history repeating itself, even with how much had changed already in just these moments.

"I will honor that spirit, and grant you a glorious death." Yhwach began to move through the gate. "I will survey your futures from this point on, and choose the moment at which you feel the greatest happiness. Should you falter from the path that your futures are currently on…" The unnatural, yellow eyes of the power of the Soul King opened around Yhwach's body, surveying them all, many focusing on Tatsuki and Ichigo in particular. "That is the moment when I will take your lives."

Tatsuki's eyes widened, as she noticed the change in Yhwach's words – words that had once been repeated to her by Abarai Renji in her time. " _Should you falter from the path that your futures are currently on"…Does that mean…?!_

"Consider it my final mercy to you…Kurosaki Ichigo." Yhwach made his threat direct, and clear. "If you wish to preserve the lives of all you care about…If you wish to avert that future your friend fled from…Then do not despair on the path before you. The moment you do…The moment you hesitate and stop moving forward…I will ensure that you shall all remember my words whenever you feel happiness, and you will tremble in fear at the death I have promised you…Forever."


	10. Disclosure of the Future

Disclosure of the Future

Renji gritted at his teeth, not understanding what Yhwach was saying, nor caring. What mattered to him, in that moment, was keeping Yhwach, who had inflicted so much damage and pain upon the Soul Society and his friends, from getting away. "Hold it, you bastard!" Renji fired _Zabimaru_ forward, screaming towards the Sankt Zwinger barrier.

"You idiot! That won't work!"

Rukia turned her face towards the source of the voice, and Yhwach's strange words suddenly became clear. "Arisawa-San?!" Rukia said in shock.

The moment _Zabimaru_ crossed the boundary of Sankt Zwinger, light and darkness blasted forth from the crosses and halo, tearing the segments within the boundary apart into its component reishi. Renji's eyes widened and he immediately pulled back the smoking end of Zabimaru. He could only watch helplessly as Yhwach strode through the barrier. Renji looked over at Rukia, only to find that she had seemingly vanished from his side.

"Arisawa-san, how are you even here?! What's going on?! And when did you become a Shinigami?!" Renji looked up to see Rukia running towards the strange Shinigami woman that was walking towards Rukia, hands raised as she told Rukia to calm down. _I have never seen that woman before among the Gotei 13,_ Renji thought, _and her reiatsu is way too strong to be even a regular Captain. Yet it feels like…_ The gears in Renji's head went into over-drive, trying to remember where he had seen the woman's face before.

His mind sped back-wards about two months, and then a year and a half ago. Arisawa…Tatsuki! Renji gave a sound of affirmation, and slapped his balled left hand into his open right hand. "Ah! You must be an aunt of Ichigo's friend, Arisawa Tatsuki!" Renji declared. "So many new relatives of people I know are popping up today!" He said, recalling Toshiro's older brother. "And all of them powerful Shinigami!"

Rukia gave him a pitying look. "Renji, that man was Captain Hitsugaya." Renji recoiled in shock. "I didn't actually think you'd buy what I said."

Tatsuki placed a hand to her hips. "And the only aunt that I have is Unagiya Ikumi." Ichigo turned white with shock. _OH MY GOD! THOSE TWO ARE RELATED?!_ Tatsuki placed her free hand to her chest. "I am Arisawa Tatsuki. And I came from twenty-five years into the future."

Renji's jaw dropped in disbelief as the three revelations caused his mind to explode. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

Isshin looked at Renji with a deadpan face. "You are really gullible and thick-headed, you know that?" Isshin muttered.

"SH-SHUT THE HELL UP, CAPTAIN SHIBA!" Renji barked, then he paused a second. "Wait…Captain Shiba?!"

"Dad, don't stress Renji out any more than he already is," Ichigo spoke, the same look on his face as his father, "and I already got enough of a shock finding out the two scariest women in my life are relatives."

Renji helplessly pointed fingers between Ichigo and Isshin, completely at a loss for words with everything he was hearing at this point in time. Tatsuki beckoned Ichigo and Isshin over to where they were, and gestured for _Okamiryuu_ to follow. Behind her, Rukia held a hand to her chin, as she pondered what Renji had revealed about Ichigo's father.

"Captain…Shiba…" Rukia's memories went back to the days shortly after she had to kill Shiba Kaien, after Metastacia, a creation of Aizen Sousuke, had possessed him. She did not know why the memory was so fuzzy, but she recalled a former Captain of the Gotei 13 talking to her, placing a hand on her shoulders.

"…It's not your fault, Rukia-chan…" The blurred figure spoke in a distorted. "…My nephew knew the risks when he became a Shinigami…"

 _But if Isshin really is a Shiba, then why…?_ When she looked up, her thoughts were distracted by finally noticing Inoue inside a Kido barrier. "Inoue-San!" Rukia ran over to her friend.

"Kuchiki-San…" Inoue said sadly, and looked away when she saw Ichigo's eyes following Rukia. "What happened? Why are you in Kurosaki-san's Kido barrier?" Rukia looked over her friend, making a mental note to herself to kick Urahara's ass for putting Inoue in such a ridiculous dress, and noticed that her Rikka were missing. "Inoue, what happened to your Rikka?"

"Yhwach did that," Tatsuki replied, and Rukia turned to face her. "Yhwach's "The Almighty" has the ability to "alter the future". He used it to destroy Inoue's Rikka, just as he used it to break Ichigo's Tensa Zangetsu."

"Yhwach did what?" Rukia quickly looked over at the bloody and bruised Ichigo, and saw that Tensa Zangetsu had indeed been broken in two. She looked around, and saw the other broken piece sitting on the ground. "He has the power to alter the future?" Rukia was shocked that a power of such magnitude could even exist in the world.

Behind her, Inoue began to weep. "…Yes, and he saw that only _I_ could fix Kurosaki-kun's Tensa Zangetsu. That's why he…"

"That is not entirely the truth," Tatsuki corrected Orihime. "I heard the details about it in my time after Yhwach was defeated. You couldn't override Yhwach's "The Almighty"; another Fullbring was needed to create a "new past" that could allow you to heal it."

Orihime simply looked at Tatsuki. "But…Tatsuki-Chan…If I can't help Kurosaki-Kun, then how…?"

"What was that you said?" Renji said, as he looked at Tatsuki. "You said that Ichigo defeated Yhwach, where you came from. If that is the case," he spoke, accusation in his voice, "then why are you here?"

"Do you want me to verify if what she is saying is truth?"

All eyes turned to look towards an opening that had suddenly formed in the floor of the Wahrwelt, and Tsukishima Shukuro stepped out of the doorway, followed by Ginjo Kugo. "Because, I might as well do something, while I am here. Urahara-san originally only gathered us up to help fix Ichigo's Bankai in case he was stupid enough to get it broken."

"He only gathered _you_ to do that, you mean," Ginjo said pointedly, "we just tagged along because we wanted to repay our debt."

"But since Inoue-San is without her power," Tsukishima directed a chilling look at Orihime, "I suppose there isn't anything I can really do, here."

Tatsuki glared at Tsukishima, while Rukia looked over at Ichigo as he observed the state of his Zanpakuto. _Ichigo…_

"I don't have the time to explain everything," Tatsuki told Tsukishima, "and I especially don't need someone like you getting into my past. Again."

Tsukishima looked at Tatsuki in surprise. "Hmm, so someone told you about me."

Ichigo looked up from his Zanpakuto, the sadness in his eyes apparent. "Who do you think, you bastard?" Ichigo told Tsukishima.

Tsukishima gave Ichigo a withering smile. _How curious. So he told this woman about me, but none of his Nakama._ "Kurosaki-Kun…Do you know this person?" Inoue spoke.

 _Well, why not tell her myself?_ Tsukishima opened his mouth to speak. "And we don't have time for introductions," Tatsuki gave Tsukishima a warning look, "what we need right now is to find a way to break the Sankt Zwinger, and to wait for Uryu to join us."

"Uryu?" Ichigo asked, more wondering when Tatsuki started referring to Ishida on a first-name basis, then why they needed to wait for Uryu. "But Tatsuki," Ichigo insisted, "I know we need everyone we can to fight Yhwach, but with a power like "The Almighty", how can Ishida…?"

Tatsuki looked at Ichigo. "…Because Uryu is Yhwach's perfect counter."

Ginjo looked at Tatsuki suspiciously. "I do not understand all the stuff you were talking about earlier about how 'Ichigo beat Yhwach in your time' and all that," he admitted, "but now you are saying that Ishida is key to taking out someone like Yhwach? How do you suppose that?"

All eyes turned to Arisawa Tatsuki. Tatsuki spoke while Isshin healed Rukia and Renji's wounds. "Because when Yhwach spoke of the ways Ichigo's Bankai could be fixed, he did not see Uryu using "The Antithesis". And because, as I am sure you are aware, Ginjo," Tatsuki looked at Ginjo, "he is the one "impure Quincy" to survive Auswahlen, who was not the child of a Shinigami and a Quincy."

Ichigo looked over at Tatsuki, taken by surprise by something, he realized now, he should have recognized from the start. _That's right. Neither I, Yuzu and Karin, nor Ishida could be called "pureblood" Quincy; I'm also a Shinigami, and have Hollow powers, and Ishida's mother was a Gemischt. But why would Tatsuki say that Ginjo would…_

The realization struck Ichigo, and he looked over at Ginjo, specifically focusing on the Cross hanging from the necklace he wore. _Wait. Ginjo was under "Book of the End" when he told me of the relationship between Shinigami Representatives and Fullbringers. Tsukishima could have used "Book of the End" to re-write Ginjo's knowledge about Fullbring, just as he completely re-wrote Ginjo's past…_

He recalled Isshin's telling him about the past of his family, and Urahara's words about the balance of souls in living beings. " _Humans are opposite of Hollows. Quincy are opposite of Shinigami."_

 _Of course! Unless something about it being a Fullbring keeps it from happening, Ginjo could never have both Shinigami and Fullbring powers without "Soul Suicide" happening. The true opposite of a Fullbringer is not a Human with Shinigami powers…But a Quincy with Shinigami powers!_

Ginjo's eyes narrowed. "Go on," he said nonchalantly.

"Uryu's "The Antithesis" is a power similar to "The Almighty"; both can manipulate "Causality" in different ways. "The Almighty" can cause events he can see in the future to occur in the present by "altering the future"; Uryu can choose two specified targets, and he can "reverse" any event that has happened between the two of them."

Renji and Rukia looked at Tatsuki in surprise. Ginjo simply raised an eyebrow, and looked over at Ichigo. "I see what you are getting at; Ichigo got trashed by Yhwach really bad, so you want Ishida to "reverse" all that damage back onto Yhwach."

"Pretty much," Tatsuki admitted, "all the injuries, even the broken Bankai and Hollow horn – all of which should give us the opening needed to take Yhwach out…" _Assuming we get there in time._

"And you know all this because…?" Renji asked.

"Because I came here with the Uryu from my time," Tatsuki replied.

Renji tried to respond, but his response died in his throat. He decided it was futile to question anything at this point in time. He was thoroughly convinced that some demonic god of the ancient Soul Society could rise up and destroy everything, and he wouldn't even question where it came from.

"I see," Rukia said, her voice filled with hope, accepting Tatsuki's words without question. "If Uryu can stale-mate "The Almighty", then we can fight Yhwach on even ground."

"But we still have a problem, Rukia-chan" Isshin added. "Tatsuki-chan said Ichigo killed Yhwach in her time, but that Yhwach was able to come back to life. It won't simply be enough to kill him; we have to shut down "The Almighty" completely."

"I don't know the specifics…" Tatsuki turned to look at Rukia, "…But Rukia is apparently the means by which Urahara intended to completely kill Yhwach."

Rukia looked strangely at Tatsuki. "…Me? But what could I do that could keep Yhwach from using the "Almighty"?"

"I am not sure," Tatsuki repeated. "All I know is that some property of your Zanpakuto can over-ride Yhwach's ability."

"…Is it really possible?" Ichigo said, looking at Rukia in amazement. When Inoue saw the hope in Ichigo's eyes, she had to look away.

For the first time in their presence, _Okamiryuu_ spoke. "Kurosaki Ichigo. You yourself are a being that most would consider "impossible"."

All eyes turned towards the Zanpakuto. "Urahara Kisuke was a shrewd man, and he knew many things about others that even they did not know about themselves. Every action he took had some hidden purpose to it. You are one who bears the properties of all things in his Soul…" Okamiryuu looked at Rukia, "…And you are the one he chose to hide the Hogyoku within. Happenstance did not bring you two together without reason. For two such people to come together from two entirely different worlds; for the sands of Fate to lead to such a meeting…"

"That is a most rare Destiny."

Ichigo and Rukia exchanged looks with each other, and they recalled their time together from their first meeting. The day when Ichigo was given Shinigami power by Rukia; their days of Hollow-hunting; the night when Rukia gave herself to save Ichigo from the blade of Kuchiki Byakuya; Ichigo storming the Soul Society with his Nakama to save Rukia from execution, and uncovering Aizen's plot.

Then Rukia came back to Karakura Town, to help Ichigo after the Arrancar appeared in Karakura Town; then Ichigo went to Hueco Mundo to save Inoue Orihime, and Rukia followed him, once again against the orders of the Soul Society, both risking their lives for a friend.

Then seventeen months apart from one another. Rukia recalled how, in secret, she spent part of those months waiting for Urahara to complete the blade that would be used to restore Ichigo's Shinigami power…A blade, she recalled, required her reiatsu to go in first and foremost, as her power was most compatible with Ichigo's own.

"Urahara Kisuke once told me," Tatsuki added, "that on the verge of death, in this very place, he entrusted everything to the both of you. Whatever it was…" Tatsuki gave them both a heart-felt smile, "…Urahara knew that it was something only you two together could bring about."

Renji and Isshin shared meaningful glances with one another, as they regarded two of the people who they had cared deeply for in their lives.

Footsteps and a familiar reiatsu came up from the stairway, and Uryu appeared from the steps, a silver arrowhead held in his hands. "Ah, you are finally here, Uryu!" Tatsuki said, her voice betraying her happiness at seeing the younger Uryu.

Ichigo gave Tatsuki an odd look, and then he turned to look at Uryu. A stifled laugh came from his father, and he looked at the bemused look in his father's eyes. Before Ichigo could ask, Isshin waved his hand in the air to keep the question to himself. Ichigo complied. He already had enough bombs dropped on him for one day.

"Arisawa-San?" Uryu looked confusedly at Tatsuki. "My father already told me about you, but I still can't quite believe it." He looked around and saw Inoue, and immediately noticed her Rikka were missing. "Inoue-san…Your Rikka…"

The sadness in Inoue's eyes panged Uryu's heart, and he balled his hands around the Still Silver arrow. _I won't forgive you for hurting her like that, Yhwach._ He stepped resolutely forward, and eyed the Sankt Zwinger. "This Kirchen Lied…" Uryu muttered to himself. "It is definitely a Quincy technique, but I am not familiar enough with the Kirchen Lied to dispel it. All I know is this: we'd need something immensely powerful to shatter the Zwinger, especially one like this."

"Or something subtle," Tsukishima suggested, "Allow me." He pulled a book-mark from his pocket, and activated his Fullbring – Book of the End. He walked towards the Sankt Zwinger, and made a single cutting motion along the ground. He looked to a piece of floor near his foot, smiled, and pressed down on the floor with a foot.

Bringer Light emanated from the spot, and streamed towards the ground in the parts where the Sankt Zwinger was set up, along the Sankt Zwinger's reishi construct, and they all disintegrated into particles. Without the rest of the barrier supporting it, the barrier in front of the Gate simply shattered.

Ichigo and Uryu looked wide-eyed at Tsukishima. " _That_ is subtle?" They both yelled in unison.

"I picked up a trick and two when I was with that Shiba family," Tsukishima confessed. "They had a very interesting spell to allow themselves to turn any substance made of stone to sand. I figured that, if Shinigami Kido could do it, a Fullbringer could do it better. So, I used "Book of the End" on an area, and I 'practiced' making this spell until I perfected it. It took me quite a while, too. I call it – World Disintegration."

Ichigo looked at Tsukishima with annoyance. "I'll never get how your power works, Tsukishima. Frankly, I have too many bad memories with it to even want to get it."

"Tsukishima was always obsessed with the Xeelee Sequence," Ginjo offered, a wry grin on his face. "He was a big fan of those Photino bird things."

A vein appeared in Tsukishima's forehead. "Those were not the reason why I manifested my Fullbring the way I did, I assure you. Anyway," Tsukishima said to Tatsuki and Ichigo, "I assume this makes us even?"

"Yes." Ichigo said.

"No." Tatsuki said.

Ichigo looked at Tatsuki. "Tatsuki," Ichigo told her, "Tsukishima already helped us get past the Sankt Zwinger. They don't need to help us any more than they want to."

Tatsuki looked between Ichigo and Ginjo. "I said "no" because Urahara-san wanted me to say something to Ginjo, in case things went this way." Tatsuki turned to Ginjo. "Ginjo, if you and Tsukishima do not come with us right now…There is a very likely chance that Sousuke will die."

Ichigo looked at Tatsuki, confused. "Tatsuki, what do Aizen and Ginjo have in…" He looked towards Ginjo, and went silent when he saw the expression on Ginjo's face.

It was one of shock, which slowly turned to determination. "So," Tatsuki said to Ginjo, "are you in all the way?"

Ginjo touched his hand to the Cross on his necklace, and pulled out Cross of Scaffold.

"Yes."


	11. Story Update - What Readers Need to Know

After I wrote the last chapter, I decided to go on hiatus because of the new novels that have been written for Bleach, that details things that happened after the end of chapter 684. Despite being a fan-fiction writer, I am a stickler for wanting to respect the official materials when I write my stories, which is why a majority of my stories on this site (the ones I intend to continue) have been "Continuation Fics" - I continue after the author finishes, and add my own elements to further build the world.

As for "Vergeltung Lied", Volume 2 of "Can't Fear Your Own World" has not come out yet, so I don't yet dare to address those points yet, though I suspect that I will diverge from Narita's writing at certain points. But for now, here is what needs to be known:

Most of Chapter 3 - "What They Take With Them, What Is Left Behind" is now apocryphal. Here are the reasons:

1\. The apparent survival of more Quincy than I initially anticipated i.e. none (Bazz-B's survival was my own addition), though I still have suspicions about whether those Quincy affected by Auswahlen will survive long, even after Yhwach's death, without intervention.

2\. Who the new Soul King actually was. While I was right about it being a Quincy, I was wrong it about it being Haschwalth, as it was actually Yhwach, suffering the same fate as his father.

3\. Ambiguity. We do not know what happened with those Quincy that still remained in the Vandenreich, after Haschwalth ordered his aide to take his Soldats and the surviving Stern Ritter and make a run for it. Even on that front, we only know that the Shinigami believe "the Quincy threat has ended". Whether that implies something along the lines of what I initially wrote, I have no clue at this point.

Here is what is still to be considered canon from Chapter 3:

1\. Tatsuki and Uryu's child.

2\. The new concept of "Gods of Soul Society".

3\. The fate of Ichibei Hyosube.

4\. Bazz-B, Hanataro and Yuki's survival.

There are also changes to other parts of the story: According to "We Do Knot Always Love You", Isshin never met with Rukia to talk to her about Kaien's death (while he tried, he never actually went through with it). I guess I could make a work-around in regards with that, or I could just ret-con that one moment with Rukia's memories.

On the other hand, "Can't Fear Your Own World" is promising to give me a bunch more material to work with in regards to story possibilities (just like Dragon Ball Super with my "Dragon Ball" continuation, which I am seriously considering re-naming, now). And I fully intend to use them as they come.

So, why am I posting chapters again, while the second half has not yet been published?

The reason is my story-writing style. Six (soon to be seven) chapters and over 20,000 words written, and everything so far has taken place in the space of a day. Kind of like how it takes some mangaka years to draw out all the events that take place in a span of a single day for a single arc. I am fairly certain I can put out another set of chapters before I will be able to get to Narita's material directly.

Second, I also need some time away from my original fiction projects I have been working on elsewhere, and I decided that getting back to "Vergeltung Lied" would be ideal. I should have the new chapter posted up here within the next hour.


	12. Concurrency

Concurrency

"Do you think that is all of them?" Ganju Shiba asked, wringing his tired arms out.

"…Yeah, I think that is all of them."

Sado Yasutora stood over the broken rubble of the Wahrwelt statue, thinking about what he had just sensed happened. _It felt like Ichigo was in serious trouble,_ Sado though, _so I had to destroy these things as fast as I possibly could. But then someone else showed up. It was strangely familiar, but I can't put my finger on it._

"That reiatsu we sensed fighting Yhwach earlier," Ganju said, "It was really freakishly strong. I didn't think there were any guys like that on our side, except for Ichigo. But the other one that showed up with it…It was Uncle's reiatsu."

"…That has been something I've been meaning to ask you," Sado said, turning to Ganju. "Urahara explained everything about Ichigo to me and Inoue after Ichigo went to the Soul King Palace, so we wouldn't be unaware of what was going on. He said that Ichigo's father was a Shiba. So…Doesn't that mean you are cousins," Sado asked.

"Yeah," Ganju admitted. "It was a shock to me too, when Sis told me about it." He scratched the back of his head. "Geez, to think I wound up helping family after all, back then. Strange how things work out, isn't it?"

Sado smiled. "Yes, it sometimes can be." Sado looked towards the top of the Wahrwelt. "Ichigo's reiatsu, along with the others, left the Wahrwelt awhile ago after Yhwach." He started moving forwards along the path. _But Inoue's reiatsu is still here. Why would Ichigo leave her behind? Did something happen?_

* * *

"You mean _you_ did WHAT?!"

Yoruichi, having regained Human awareness and her regular appearance, had piledrived Urahara into the wall of a nearby building, having finally reached her limit with Urahara's antics.

"Technically, I did not do it myself," Urahara explained in his usual, guilty manner. "I mean, I did, but…"

"DON'T GIVE ME ANY BUTS!" Grimmjow and Neliel could only wince as Yoruichi screamed at Urahara. "It is bad enough that you turned me into that disgusting form _without my permission_ , but now you are telling me that YOUR FUTURE SELF sent future versions of one of Ichigo's Human friends and Ishida back into the past! Do you have any idea what could happen now? What would even possess you to consider creating something to allow people to travel back in time, anyway? Does your unfetteredness know NO BOUNDS!?"

Urahara looked at Yoruichi wide-eyed, his mouth a silent straight line. "Apparently, no."

Yoruichi growled in exasperation, and let go of Urahara's collar, letting his feet drop back to the ground. "Honestly, of all the things you have done, sending someone to alter the past is the craziest thing you have ever done!"

Urahara looked at Yoruichi's back, waiting for her to finish her response. "Still," Yoruichi admitted, "you never do anything _significant_ without reason." Yoruichi stressed "significant", as there were a lot of things that Urahara had done in the past that were often childish, and for his own amusement. "For your 'best solution' to an outcome to be to change the past in its entirety…" She sighed. "…I imagine everyone dying would be the only thing you could come up with."

Urahara looked at Yoruichi solemnly. "It was also to fix my own mistake, I imagine," Urahara admitted. "I put so much trust in both Kurosaki and Kuchiki to finish things, but I never stopped to consider that they may behave contrary to what I expected of them. For all the fighting, they have done…both of them are still children, still very much in the dark about things."

Off to the side, Neliel looked at Urahara sympathetically, while Grimmjow stood there in annoyance. "So basically, all this happened because you screwed things up," Grimmjow said untactfully. "Not that I care, anyway." Grimmjow glared up towards the top of Wahrwelt. "We didn't come here just to help you Shinigami; they imprisoned Harribel, and we're gonna break her out."

"Yes," Neliel agreed, and looked up thoughtfully. "Just what did Yhwach want with Harribel? And…how can they even turn Arrancar into Quincy?"

"I don't care about that," Grimmjow said roughly, as he started walking towards the Wahrwelt. "All I know is that bastard brought war to our home, and captured one of our own. And we're taking her back."

* * *

Down at ground level, the city surrounding the main Wahrwelt palace lay in ruins from the battle that took place. The force of Gerard's blows was enough to fracture the very foundations of the surrounding areas, forcing Toshiro to freeze all the frozen pieces to prevent any from falling down to cause damage to the Soul Society and Seireitei, while Rangiku was using _Haineko_ to pulverize whatever pieces did fall to a manageable amount.

Now, Toshiro and Byakuya stood on opposite sides of the colossus of light the Stern Ritter had become, both on the brink of exhaustion and running out of options. _But even if I do use Tenso Jurin,_ Toshiro thought to himself, _and Byakuya uses Hakuteiken, will that even be enough? We shattered this bastard into pieces, yet he **recreated** himself completely from just his legs. _

_This power…It hasn't been 'regenerating' his injuries, like a Hollow would; it is like he recreates his body more powerful every time any lasting damage is done._

Byakuya, on the other hand, was not so fearful for their chances. _Still, I do not believe this power is limitless,_ Byakuya pondered. _'Miracles' are only called as such because of how rare it is for them to happen. And not all of his 'miracles' have been equal. After his left arm was cut off by Zaraki's…Bankai…_

For a moment, Byakuya closed his eyes in disbelief. He had considered it bad enough two years ago when Ichigo, a Human, had attained the power of a Bankai in so short a time, though at least Ichigo had the privilege of using Urahara's techniques to do so. But for Zaraki, even for as powerful as he was, to attain both Shikai **_and_** Bankai in the span of two days…

Byakuya looked back up at Gerard, and returned to the task at hand. … _His arm was regenerated differently. Instead of further improving that arm, as it did the first time, it just regenerated the arm as it was before. And then his left limb…it wasn't regenerated at all. And this form,_ Byakuya recalled the transformation that As Nodt took before his little sister destroyed him with her Bankai, _reminds me of **that.** If this is just a second transformation of his Vollstandig to the height of his power, then it is possible that he may not grow any stronger. Whether we can do damage enough to kill him, on the other hand…_

"YOU SHINIGAMI HAVE GONE SILENT," Gerard spoke in a bellowing voice, and he started to rise to his feet for the first time he entered this second form. Toshiro and Byakuya's eyes widened, and they jumped several steps back as Gerard's form rose before their sight. "IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE, WHEN CONFRONTED BY THE SPLENDOR OF ONE WHO BEARS THE POWER OF GOD."

"You say that," Byakuya spoke, "but I believe that we have already pushed you to your utmost limits…While we have yet to use the strongest of our abilities." _I just hope they are strong enough to offset this difference in power_. "He who has shown all they are capable of before their opponent is the one to lose the battle."

Byakuya began to prepare _Hakuteiken_. "Gerard Valkyrie, you, Yhwach and the Vandenreich have brought ruin to the Seireitei, killed Captain-Commander Yamamoto, trespassed in the Soul King Palace, and killed the Soul King himself. You are trying to destroy everything for the sake of empty vengeance." In a flash of light, the wings and blade of _Hakuteiken_ were held in Byakuya's hands. His thoughts went towards Rukia, his sister, his pride. "I will not let you destroy the Shinigami. But above all, I won't let you destroy my pride."

Byakuya glared up at Gerard, who stared down at the Shinigami Captain.

Gerard suddenly spoke. " _THE SOUL KING? DO NOT SPEAK AS IF THAT UNDEAD CORPSE WAS I. THE SOUL KING WAS MADE FROM THE BODY OF A QUINCY. I MERELY AVENGED MY DESECRATION."_

Byakuya and Toshiro's eyes snapped open in shock as Gerard went on the offensive, manifesting two swords in his hands…

* * *

Off in the distance, within a cluster of still-standing buildings, Ikkaku and Yumichika reacted similarly, while Yumichika tended to Zaraki. "Oy oy," Ikkaku exclaimed, "that bastard did the same thing as the Soul King's Left Arm! And what's this about calling the Soul King 'an undead corpse' made from 'the body of a Quincy'?"

"Tch, do you think I care about any of that," Zaraki said in annoyance, as Yumichika did his best to try to tend to Zaraki's wounds. Even if he couldn't reattach his severed arm, he could at least preserve both the stump and limb so they could be re-attached later. "It's all a bunch of nonsense, to me!"

Yumichika, on the other hand, was deep in thought. _But it is not nonsense. No one has ever seen the Soul King except Squad Zero, yet, in the span of a day, I have seen both the Right and Left Arms of the Soul King. Yet the Left Arm identified itself as a Quincy! The same way this Stern Ritter is identifying itself AS the Soul King, and as a Quincy! If it was just the Left Arm, I would have assumed that the Quincy leader did something to it to make it subservient. But if there are more than two pieces of the Soul King who side with the Quincy…!_

"Ayasegawa-san," a familiar voice spoke from behind them, "allow me to take care of Captain Zaraki."

The heads of the Squad 11 members turned towards the source of the voice. Yumichika recognized immediately who it was, but there was something…different about him. "Ishida-san? What are you doing here?" It took Yumichika a moment to notice the Stern Ritter that was stalking behind him. It took him a moment to recall the scene they saw before Yhwach invaded the Soul King Palace. Yumichika gritted his teeth in anger. "Are you here to…?"

"No," Ishida assured them, "I am not your enemy."

"It is…a rather long story," Ishida said with a fond smile, "but let me just say that he is on our side for now…and that I am glad to see all of you again, after so long."

Ikkaku raised a curious eyebrow. "What's that? That ain't something you say to someone you just met again a couple months ago, especially after we saw you with the enemy. Anyway," he jumped up, "what are you gonna do to help the Captain? Unless you have Inoue-san with you, you aren't going to be putting back the Captain's arms, or repairing the break."

"I have a slightly different plan in mind," Ishida began to explain, but his attention was diverted by a set of reiatsu that were moving along the roof-tops, and would soon pass over them. He recognized both reiatsu – Kyoraku Shunsui and Nanao Ise. He quickly looked up, and then back at Gerard. _That's right! The holy relic of the Ise Clan, Shinken Hakkyouken_. Ishida gritted his teeth in a fearful realization. _If any of the Aspects of the Soul King see the very thing that helped create them…!_

* * *

Byakuya and Toshiro struggled to avoid the brunt of Gerard's attacks. Although they could dodge his sword strikes, it was just barely, and the wind pressure generated from each swing still buffered their bodies. Both of them realized that, if they get too exhausted and slip up, it will only take one blow from Gerard's swords to end either of them.

Byakuya paused in his movements for a moment, and prepared to strike with _Hakuteiken_ at an incoming sword blow. "KUCHIKI!" Toshiro yelled out in alarm from a distance. As Gerard's blade bore down on him, Byakuya swung _Hakuteiken_. As with every aspect of his Zanpakuto, _Hakuteiken's_ power had been increased substantially not only by the training he endured with Squad Zero, but also his contemplation on his relationship with his Zanpakuto, one born from wondering if his Bankai was so easily stolen because he did not fully understand his own relationship with it.

With the power of all one hundred million sword blades of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi focused into one blade, _Hakuteiken_ collided with Gerard's sword. In the space of a second, _Hakuteiken's_ blade pushed through the reishi sword, and severed it in two. Around Byakuya, the wind pressure blasted up debris and dust, and the shock from the colliding blows coursed through his arms.

But he still stood on his feet.

"HOH, IMPRESSIVE, YOUNG SHINIGAMI. TO IMAGINE YOU ARE THE THIRD TODAY ALONE TO DAMAGE ONE OF MY – NNNNGH, WHAT'S THAT LIGHT?"

Byakuya looked at Gerard in confusion. "Light?" He followed Gerard's gaze towards the limb of the Wahrwelt from which they had come. Standing on top of a building, he saw Captain-Commander Kyoraku standing there with Lieutenant Ise, who was holding a strange sword in her hand. _Wait. That blade is…_

"SHINKEN…HAKKYOUKEN?!" Gerard exclaimed. "THEN THAT MEANS LILLE BARRO …!"

"That's right, Quincy-San," Kyoraku explained, "this blade is what defeated your Nakama. By the way you are reacting to it, it seems that you are also susceptible to it as well. But given you even know its name," Kyoraku added solemnly, "I suppose that is a hint as to "who" you really are..."

Gerard's body suddenly went rigid. " _I DO RECOGNIZE THAT CURSED BLADE."_

Toshiro and Byakuya reacted to Gerard's change in speech. It was like what happened when he reacted to Byakuya's speech. " _A CURSED BLADE, FORGED AS A WEAPON AGAINST THE DIVINE BEINGS THAT ONCE LIVED IN SOUL SOCIETY. A WEAPON MADE BY THE ISE MATRIARCH, WHO USED THE SOUL OF HER OWN HUSBAND TO CREATE IT, AFTER SHE BORE A DAUGHTER."_

Kyoraku's eyes widened, and Ise reacted in shock at the declaration. _The first Ise Clan Head…Killed her own husband to make this blade?!_

 _"THAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE BLADE'S DIVINITY-SCATTERING POWER – THE GENERATIONAL SACRIFICE OF THE HUSBAND'S SOUL, SO WIFE AND DAUGHTER CAN CONTINUE USING ITS CURSED POWER…A POWER WHICH CREATED ME."_

Ise felt her grip on the blade slacken unwillingly. _Shinken Hakkyouken_ takes the husband's soul to maintain its power so that the women of the Ise Clan could use it. _But that means…Father died because I was born!_ _What does this Quincy even mean by it creating…?_

"Ah," Shunsui said darkly, "so you really are one of the lost pieces of the Soul King, aren't you? I read up on you lot after Juushiro told me how he was host to Mimihagi. A big fellow like you, I imagine, must have been its Heart. That form of light…it is a real contrast to those black things that came down from here…and Mimihagi's form."

Gerard stabbed his remaining sword into the ground. "DO NOT THINK ME AS EASY TO DEFEAT AS BARRO, WITH THAT BLADE. I KNOW WHAT IT CAN DO. I KNOW BETTER THAN TO EVEN TOUCH IT…"

Kyoraku saw Gerard ball his massive hand into a fist, and he gritted his teeth. Even though he had managed to come this far with Nanao, he was still not fully healed from his injuries. He didn't know if he was fast enough to grab Nanao and avoid what was coming.

Gerard raised up his arm. "…SO I WILL JUST SMASH THE GROUND APART, AND SEND YOU FALLING DOWN TO THE SOUL SOCIETY!"

Toshiro reacted instinctively as he swung Daiguren Hyorinmaru. Although the barriers of the Soul King Palace kept anything of flesh and blood from passing through them, Toshiro could not be certain that those same barriers were still in place, after the Wahrwelt was made over the Soul King Palace. After all, the Vandenreich had its entirety moved from the Soul Society to the Palace.

The ice of Hyorinmaru enveloped Gerard's arm as he swung it down…Only for the ice to be smashed apart as Gerard's fist seemed to lose no speed. "Dammit!" Toshiro screamed, as Gerard's fist impacted the ground.

The right side of Gerard's body fissured and cracked while the ground remained unharmed, as if Gerard had broken his body against an indestructible object with that blow. Then, his right arm exploded and fell off from his body, as if it had been cut by an unseen force.

"WH-WHAAAT?!" Gerard screamed, grasping at the stump of his arm.

"I'm sorry, Gerard Valkyrie."

All eyes suddenly turned towards the source of the new voice, seeing a tall, lithe, black haired Quincy wearing glasses step out into the open. "But I can't allow you to do that."

"Ishida?!" Toshiro and Byakuya exclaimed in shocked.


End file.
